Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne

Metabolism researcher Christian Frezza selected for the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship Award 2021

18/11/2020

providing him the option to translocate his research activities to the University of Cologne. The Medical Faculty has started the recruitment negotiations.

The Metabolism researcher Professor Dr. Christian Frezza from the University of Cambridge (UK) has been selected by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to be awarded the ‘Alexander von Humboldt Professorship - International Award for Research in Germany’.

Christian Frezza was nominated for the award together with the Medical Faculty and the Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research (CECAD) at the University of Cologne. He is an internationally recognized scientist and leading expert in the field of metabolomics, the study of metabolites which are small molecules produced during metabolism. Frezza currently conducts research as a program leader in the field of Cancer Metabolism at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge (UK). For detailed information, please visit: https://www.mrc-cu.cam.ac.uk/research/Christian-frezza-folder. He started his scientific career in his home country Italy and received his doctorate in Padova in 2008. An EMBO long-term grant from the European Molecular Biology Organization brought him to the Cancer Research UK, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2012 he then moved to Cambridge.

‘The award of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is a huge success. Christian Frezza is an outstanding scientist who is internationally renowned for developing novel methodology for the sensitive and large-scale analysis of thousands of metabolites. He thus uncovered new roles for metabolism in the regulation of cellular behavior in health and disease, especially cancer. He is the ideal candidate whose unique scientific profile will profoundly complement, strengthen and enhance the Life Science Campus at the University of Cologne,’ comments Dr. Carien Niessen, Scientific Coordinator of CECAD and Executive Board Member of the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne.

The Medical Faculty has started the negotiation process with Professor Christian Frezza and upon successful completion, Professor Frezza will be awarded with the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship 2021 including the prize award of 5 million EUR for five years and become Professor for ‘Metabolomics and Aging’ at the University of Cologne.

‘I am honored to have been selected as a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. This professorship will enable me to consolidate and expand our work on metabolism in a vibrant environment at the University of Cologne, and to build new and exciting collaborations,’ said Frezza.

An Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is awarded to internationally leading researchers from all disciplines who have worked abroad. The prize money of 5 million EUR is intended for the first five years of research in Germany and enables the award winner to carry out pioneering research at a German university. For further information please visit: 

https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/entdecken/newsroom/neue-alexander-von-humboldt-professorinnen-ausgewaehlt 

 

modified press release by Dr. Debora Grosskopf-Kroiher | CMMC | debora.grosskopf-kroiher[at]uni-koeln.de

original press release by Dr. Anna Euteneuer | CECAD |
https://www.cecad.uni-koeln.de/about/news/article/scientist-from-cambridge-can-transfer-to-cecad-with-an-alexander-von-humboldt-professorship/