The 2008 Körber European Science Award goes to Maria Blasco

On Monday, September 8, 2008, the Körber Foundation will present the Körber European Science Award for 2008, worth 750,000 euros in prize money, to Maria Blasco in the Main Hall of Hamburg's city hall at 11:00 a.m. Ole von Beust, mayor of Hamburg, will welcome the invited guests, and Bishop Wolfgang Huber, Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, will hold a speech to mark the occasion.

Maria Blasco is a molecular biologist who was born in Spain in 1965. She has distinguished herself through her pioneering work in the field of telomeres. Her discoveries hold the promise of novel cancer therapies and could help lengthen the lifetime of cells and, thus, possibly that of humans, too. Maria Blasco has been head of the research group for molecular oncology at the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid since 2003. She is the author of numerous influential publications and has received many prizes and awards for her research.

The Körber European Science Award, now being presented for the 24th time, supports European scientists who are pursuing particularly innovative research projects. The recipients are selected by an international trustee committee chaired by the President of the Max Planck Society, Prof. Dr. Peter Gruss. “The fight against cancer is one of science's greatest challenges. We can only win this fight if we understand why cancer cells continue to divide unchecked. Maria Blasco's research not only accomplishes the exceptional feat of helping us understand the basics of these processes, it also provides exceptionally promising prospects for medical applications.”