This year for the third time CSL Behring Germany has awarded two Alpha1 Science Awards to one aspiring clinician and scientist each, for their innovative research projects in the field of alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). The applications received from physicians and scientists in Germany and Austria were reviewed and decided upon by our scientific committee consisting of 5 notable independent clinical and scientific experts in the field of AATD.
Each of those two award winning projects are supported with a monetary award of EUR 5.000.
The Award Ceremony took place during the very well-attended CSL Behring Satellite Symposium at the Annual Meeting of the German Respiratory Society (DGP) on March 21th in Mannheim.
Patrick Sommerer, Senior Medical Director, Head of Medical Affairs Germany, Austria & Emerging Europe states: “The Alpha1 Science Awards underline CSL Behring’s commitment to improving the lives of our patients suffering from AATD. This program is meant to drive scientific progress and innovations addressing patients’ needs by supporting the scientific efforts of the next generation of AATD specialists.”
Granting these Awards, we hope to inspire many early career clinicians and scientists to dedicate their carriers to improve the lives of patients with AATD.
Dr. med. David Katzer was awarded by our scientific committee for the best clinical project. He is working as a physician at University Hospital in Bonn and dedicated his work to the German AATD registry. With his work “App-based registry for children and adolescents with alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency in Germany” he created an app that represents a Registry function and has additional features such as documentation tool e.g for lab values. It serves as well as educational platform with information about the disease itself and integrated links to websites of patient organizations like Apha1 Deutschland e.V. and Deutsche Atemwegsliga.
Ms. Julia Held, M.Sc. is working as a research associate in the Molecular Pneumology group from Prof. Sabina Janciauskiene in the Clinic for Pneumology at Hannover Medical School. She received an award from our scientific committee for the best basic research project with the title “Ex vivo study on the relationship between the circadian clock of blood neutrophils and the effects of alpha-1-antitrypsin therapy”, presenting results from short-term application of AAT therapy to whole blood affecting blood neutrophil phenotype depending on the circadian clock. This represents the first experimental evidence that the circadian rhythms of whole blood neutrophils and other myeloid cells might help to improve the potential of augmentation therapy and gives rise to further examinations.
Experts of the scientific committee for the Alpha1 Science Awards 2024:
- Prof. Dr. Daiana Stolz, University Hospital Freiburg (Chair)
- Prof. Dr. Joachim Ficker, University Hospital Nuremberg
- Prof. Dr. Rembert Koczulla, Schoen Clinic Berchtesgadener Land, Schoenau
- Prof. Dr. Winfried Randerath, Hospital Bethanien gGmbH, Solingen
- Prof. Dr. Claus Vogelmeier, University Hospital Marburg
