Prestigious Chinese award for Herbert Jäckle

Max Planck researchers honoured for his work in promoting German-Chinese science cooperation

The People's Republic of China has given its 2013 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award to the Göttingen Max Planck researcher Herbert Jäckle. This, the highest prize for foreign individuals or organizations in the field of science and technology honors the significant contributions the awardee has made to China’s social and economic development. The prize was awarded in a solemn ceremony held on January 10 in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the presence of Chinese Government representatives. In addition to Herbert Jäckle seven scientists and engineers from all over the world received the prestigious prize.

Awardee Herbert Jäckle has strongly promoted cooperation between the Max Planck Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Jäckle, who was appointed Vice President of the Max Planck Society in 2002, has provided creative ideas which have altered both the Chinese and the German scientific landscape and strengthened international cooperation. The Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai (China) – jointly supported by the Max Planck Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences – was established in 2005 on his initiative. Jäckle has further developed a new and very successful concept for promotion of junior scientists within the Max Planck Society. This concept was also implemented at the Partner Institute in Shanghai to support talented young researchers early in their scientific careers.

"I feel deeply honored and humbled by the recognition the People's Republic of China has bestowed on me. I do think, however, that this award honours not so much me as a person but the Max Planck Society. The deep mutual respect and trust that has developed between the cooperation partners in Germany and China, besides the scientific successes, is the most important achievement for me", the Max Planck Vice President said. For the Göttingen scientist, it is already the second prize he has received from the People's Republic of China within one year: In January 2013, the Chinese Academy of Sciences honoured him with its Award for International Scientific Cooperation.

Jäckle also heads the successful and internationally highly regarded Department of Molecular Developmental Biology at the Göttingen Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. His pioneering work has provided important insights into how the early development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is regulated on the molecular level and which control mechanisms keep the insect’s energy metabolism in balance. He and his colleagues have identified a number of genes and molecular regulatory mechanisms which are also essential for organ formation and energy homeostasis in humans. His work has important implications for human diseases including obesity and diabetes. The aim of the Göttingen biotech company DeveloGen AG (now Evotech International GmbH) founded by Max Planck President Peter Gruss and by Herbert Jäckle is to use these research findings to discover and develop new medical and pharmaceutical products. Recognizing his commitment as a science manager and his achievements as a scientist the developmental biologist has received numerous prizes and awards.

About the awardee

Herbert Jäckle received his PhD in biology from the University of Freiburg in 1977. He subsequently worked at the University of Texas at Austin (USA), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology in Tübingen. In 1987, he became a university professor for genetics at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. He has headed the Department of Molecular Developmental Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry since 1991. He has taught as an honorary professor at the University of Göttingen since 1993. In 2002, he was appointed Vice President of the Max Planck Society.

 

Herbert Jäckle has received numerous prizes and awards including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (1986), the Feldberg Prize (1990), the Otto Bayer Prize (1992), the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1999), the German Future Prize (1999) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Award for International Scientific Cooperation (2013). In 2010, he was given the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot (Israel) awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2007.

About the Prize

The International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of the People's Republic of China is a national science and technology award established by the State Council. It is given to foreign scientists, engineers, experts or organizations, which have made important contributions to China's development through bilateral or multilateral scientific and technological cooperation. Eight international scientists and engineers have received the 2013 International Science and Technology prize: Jan Eduard Harff (Germany), Jun Ni, Zhong Lin Wang, Hse Chung-Yun (all USA), Arun S. Mujumdar (Canada), Fabio Rocca (Italy), G.A. Zherebtsov (Russia). Previous awardees include the space scientist Roger Maurice Bonnet, the astrophysicist Gerhard Börner, the mathematician Andreas Dress, and the former German Federal Environment Minister Klaus Töpfer.

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