Sarah Kim-Hellmuth receives the prize in particular for her work as lead analyst in the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) consortium. She showed that the genetic regulation of gene activity is context-specific and can differ, for example, between different cell types, or between women and men. Unique to this study is the large number of different tissue types collected from hundreds of donors. This enormous dataset now enables the comparison of healthy and pathological gene activity in complex diseases. In the future, this knowledge will facilitate disease-specific research and improve drug target development.

The Schering Stiftung has awarded the 10,000-euro prize since 2011 to recognize young scientists for their outstanding basic research in human biology, organic chemistry or human medicine. The prize aims to make visible excellent scientific achievements, honor the early development of a distinctive scientific profile, and help the prize winners establish themselves in their field of science.

Sarah Kim-Hellmuth was nominated for the Friedmund Neumann Prize 2022 by Prof. Dr. Eleftheria Zeggini, director of the Institute of Translational Genomics at the Helmholtz Zentrum München. Prof. Dr. Dr. Christoph Klein, director of the Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital of the University of Munich (LMU), said about the prize recipient: “From a scientific and clinical perspective, Sarah Kim-Hellmuth and the GTEx consortium have contributed to a milestone that enables faster and improved discovery of disease mechanisms and paves the way toward personalized medicine.”