Prof. Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla and Prof. Daniel Rückert are honored with the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG) 2025. The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is the most important research funding prize in Germany. The prize is endowed with up to 2.5 million euros.
The aim of the Leibniz program, which was established in 1985, is to honour outstanding top researchers, expand their research opportunities and facilitate the employment of particularly qualified scientists in the early stages of their careers.
Prof. Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla from Helmholtz Munich conducts research into the mechanisms underlying cell plasticity, i.e. the adaptability of cells. Her focus is primarily on epigenetic processes, meaning the cellular processes that influence the activity of genes due to environmental influences.
Prof. Daniel Rückert from the Technical University of Munich receives the prize for his work in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning and their applications in medicine. Artificial intelligence and machine learning methods are already widely used in medicine today, including in imaging procedures - Daniel Rückert has done pioneering work in this field.
The Leibniz Prize will be awarded on March 19, 2025 in Berlin. It has been awarded annually by the DFG since 1986. With this year's awards, a total of 428 Leibniz Prizes have been awarded to date.