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Petr Broz receives the Friedrich Miescher Award 2016
The infection biologist Prof. Petr Broz of the Biozentrum has been awarded this year's Friedrich Miescher Award by the Swiss Society for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (SSCMB). The 38-year-old infection biologist receives this award for his work on the inflammasome, a cytosolic signaling complex in the body's cells, which is important for the detection and restriction of bacterial pathogens.
22 December 2015
After Jürg Rosenbusch (1975), Mark Noll (1978), Jean Pieters (2002) and Silvia Arber (2008), Broz is the fifth scientist at the Biozentrum to be given this prestigious recognition. Prof. Marcus Thelen, president of the Swiss Society for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, honored Petr Broz for his outstanding and continuous scientific research achievements, exemplified by Broz’ thesis on the virulence protein LcrV, which is found in several virulent bacteria among them Yersinia pestis, and later by his investigation of the inflammasome complex.
The jury was particularly impressed by discoveries made by the infection biologist concerning the spatial localization of different inflammasomes and their role in macrophages, which he made during his stay as a postdoctoral fellow in California. In addition, Broz was acknowledged for his successful establishment of his own research team at the Biozentrum and as an independent researcher. Not least, the jury emphasized his continued publications in the best scientific journals.
Petr Broz was appointed at the Biozentrum in 2013 as SNF assistant professor with a focus on infection biology. His research focuses on the role of the innate immune system, particularly the inflammasome in the detection and removal of invading pathogens. The diarrheal pathogen Salmonella typhimurium served as a model for the study of the complex interactions between the host’s immune system and the microbe.
Broz studied molecular biology at the University of Basel and received his doctorate under Prof. em. Guy Cornelis for his work on the type III secretion system, a bacterial infection apparatus. Before he started his position at the Biozentrum, he undertook research at Stanford University, USA. The young researcher has already received several scholarships and has published his work in major scientific journals, most recently in "Nature" investigating the strategies of macrophages to the unmasking of bacteria.
The Friedrich Miescher Award honors young scientists in Switzerland in the research field of biochemistry. The prize is donated by the Novartis Research Foundation in Basel and is endowed with a sum of CHF 20’000.00. The official ceremony of the Friedrich Miescher Award 2016 will take place on 15th February 2016.
