FEBS Excellence Award for Stephanie Panier

Award supports highly competitive research in molecular life sciences

Stephanie Panier, head of the Research Group “Genome Instability and Ageing” at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, was awarded with the FEBS Excellence Award. The Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) awards the prize for outstanding research in molecular life sciences. Panier`s group investigates how cells detect and repair DNA damage in order to protect their genetic information.

Our DNA is constantly being damaged by endogenous and exogenous sources. Cells respond to this damage by activating highly complex DNA repair systems. In old age, DNA damage accumulates because these systems function less effectively. This not only promotes the aging process, but is also associated with premature aging syndromes and the occurrence of age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Research in Panier's group focuses on how cells detect and repair DNA damage to protect their genetic information. In particular, they study how RNA and RNA-binding proteins contribute to the DNA repair process.

About Stephanie Panier

Panier studied biology at the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg from 2001. In 2008, she moved to the University of Toronto in Canada to do her doctorate at the Department of Molecular Genetics and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute. She did her postdoctoral research at the Francis Crick Research Institute in London, UK, starting in 2013. Since 2020, she heads the research group "Genomic Instability and Ageing" at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany.

About the FEBS Award

FEBS launched the FEBS Excellence Awards in 2021 aimed at supporting highly competitive research in molecular life sciences. The FEBS Excellence Awards provide €100,000 funding over three years to early-career group leaders working in a FEBS country to purchase laboratory equipment and consumables.