Lautenschläger Research Prize “Fantastic Enabling and Encouraging Prizes”

These are “fantastic enabling and encouraging prizes”, which energize researchers “to be open to the unexpected, the unknown and the hitherto unexplored”. Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior, Rector of Heidelberg University, emphasized this point during the award ceremony to present the Lautenschläger Research Prizes. The distinction for special accomplishments in leading-edge research went to Prof. Dr Jan Lohmann, an internationally eminent researcher in the area of biosciences. It pays tribute to his studies on the stem cell biology of plants. Dr h.c. Manfred Lautenschläger, sponsor of the prize and Honorary Senator of Ruperto Carola, has also endowed an award for outstanding early-career researchers. This prize was presented to PD Dr Dr Lukas Bunse. The neurologist and physician does research on how the body’s own immune system can be used to fight brain tumors, in particular gliomas. Furthermore, the event featured the premiere of the Lautenschläger Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Research. The honoree was theologian Prof. Dr Dr Michael Welker.

The prizes sponsored by Manfred Lautenschläger give “freedom and time to follow up individual ideas that require courage and undivided attention,” noted the Rector in her opening address at the award ceremony. According to Prof. Melchior, the research prizes fit remarkably well with the university’s motto since “Semper apertus” – always open – likewise entails being constantly open to new ideas. The award for top-level researchers has been presented every two years since 2001 and comes with 250,000 euros in prize money – which the laureate is free to use for their own research. It is the most highly endowed research prize from a private donor in Germany. The Rector added that Manfred Lautenschläger is particularly concerned to create prospects for early-career researchers, as shown by the Junior Researcher Prize founded in 2018. It is endowed with 25,000 euros. 

The Lautenschläger Research Prize has opened up free spaces and opportunities for research not offered by the usual research funding, emphasized Prof. Dr Christine Selhuber-Unkel. The physicist and prize-winner of 2023 reported on her projects in the area of molecular systems engineering in conversation with moderator Markus Brock. That the prize had been “extremely helpful” was also underlined by biologist Dr Victoria Ingham, whose research is on the malaria pathogen and who received the Junior Researcher Prize two years ago. The second scientific conversation during the award ceremony involved the two current prize-winners; also participating was developmental biologist Prof. Dr Joachim Wittbrodt – himself a prize-winner from 2011 – and neuropathologist Prof. Dr Dr Felix Sahm. They highlighted the pioneering significance of the studies by Jan Lohmann and Lukas Bunse. 

With his research Jan Lohmann explores the question of how plants can renew themselves over their whole lifetime and even completely regenerate damaged parts. At the Centre for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University he is currently interested in the regeneration capacity of roots. “In times of drought, loss of biological diversity and global pressure on food, this research takes on a special social relevance. It shows how basic research can give answers to questions that strongly impact our future,” said the Rector. Dr Bunse’s research focuses on high-grade gliomas, which arise through mutations of brain or spinal marrow cells and are extremely difficult to treat. The scientist from the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University wants to contribute with his studies to a better understanding of brain tumors and use these findings to develop effective immunotherapies. His “groundbreaking results” formed the basis of new clinical studies on tumor vaccinations, the Rector said.

The ceremony saw the first-time award of the Lautenschläger Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Research, which went to Michael Welker, the longstanding director and founder of the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology. The prize-winner – Senior Professor at the Heidelberg Faculty of Theology – had made it clear that religion was embedded in society. “He is a more than worthy prize-winner,” said Manfred Lautenschläger, who created this new prize. The Rector paid tribute to Prof. Welker as an influential scholar in the field of systematic theology, having “shed new light on central topics of Christology, the doctrine of creation, anthropology and eschatology”.

The Rector expressed special appreciation to Manfred Lautenschläger and his family. “With the Lautenschläger Prizes you support research without laying down conditions. You create space in which ideas can grow – a contribution visible far beyond the university,” said Prof. Melchior. To conclude the event, Catharina Seegelken spoke on behalf of the sponsor. Science and scholarly work is alive and well, and research “that pushes borders is a force for change”, said the managing director of the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation. “Keep your curiosity,” she urged in a strong appeal to the researchers of Heidelberg University. The award ceremony took place on 5 December 2025 in the Great Hall of the Old University.