GSCN Awards 2025

The "GSCN 2025 Young Investigator Award" goes to  Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics in Berlin.
The GSCN 2025 Hilde Mangold Award goes to Michaela Frye from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg.
The GSCN Publication of the Year Award 2025 goes to Bryce Lim, Aryan Kamal, … , Judith Zaugg and Moritz Mall. They receive the "GSCN 2025 Publication of the Year Award" for their joint publication "Active repression of cell fate plasticity by PROX1 safeguards hepatocyte identity and prevents liver tumorigenesis” in the journal Nature Genetics 57, 668–679 (2025).

Find the GSCN press release Molecular Insights into Early Development and Cancer Formation  here  
Finden Sie die GSCN Pressemitteilung Molekulare Einblicke in frühe Entwicklung und Tumorentstehung  hier

About the Awardees:

GSCN 2025 Young Investigator Award 
      Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu
© David Ausserhofer, MPI

Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu receives the GSCN 2025 Young Investigator Award for her research on mechanisms regulating stem cell state transitions and fate commitment. Her lab studies mammalian embryonic diapause – a reversible dormant state that gives embryos extra time to develop to increase chances of survival. Dr. Bulut-Karslıoğlu and her team made a series of discoveries on metabolic and epigenetic regulation of this dormant state, shedding light on this once mysterious phenomenon. Her team’s additional work on oxygen sensing showed the extent to which stem cell fate decisions are influenced by the cellular environment. Through different approaches, the lab seeks to understand the fundamental processes of communication and information flow at genetic and cellular levels.

Link to Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu’s working group.

Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu received her PhD in 2013 from Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, where she worked with Thomas Jenuwein on epigenetic mechanisms. In 2013, she joined Miguel Ramalho-Santos’s lab at the University of California San Francsico as a postdoc. During this time, she discovered mTOR as a regulator of developmental timing in the mouse. In 2018, she received the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award to start her independent research lab at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. Dr. Bulut-Karslioglu received an ERC Starting Grant in 2023 and ERC Proof of Concept Grant in 2025.


GSCN 2025 Hilde Mangold Award

 Michaela Frye
© J. Jung, DKFZ

Michaela Frye receives the GSCN 2025 Hilde Mangold Award for her achievements as a stem cell researcher and role model as outstanding female scientist. She is head of the Regulatory Mechanisms of Gene Expression department at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. Her groundbreaking research focuses on chemical RNA modifications that contribute to the development of cancer, metastasis, and resistance to therapy. Her research group is a leader in this field. Professor Frye was the first to demonstrate that mutations in RNA-modifying enzymes can cause disease. In doing so, she discovered new biological mechanisms that contribute significantly to tumor development and chemotherapy resistance. Michaela Frye's team showed that specific RNA modifications in mitochondria – cell organelles also known as the powerhouses of the cell – play a key role in metastasis formation. Aggressive metastatic cancer cells use mitochondria to dynamically adapt their energy metabolism to new cellular environments. Mitochondrial RNA modifications promote the spread of cancer cells by driving protein synthesis, thereby increasing the metabolic flexibility of aggressive invasive and metastatic head and neck carcinomas. Inhibitors of mitochondrial RNA modifications could therefore represent a new treatment concept against metastasis formation.

Michaela Frye completed her PhD in Frankfurt/Main in Germany in 2000 studying the role of epithelial defensins in Cystic Fibrosis. In 2001, she joined Cancer Research UK (CR-UK) in London as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where she studied how stem cells form and maintain adult tissues. In 2007, Michaela Frye started her independent research group at the Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. She received a CR-UK Career Development Fellowship in 2007 and a CR-UK Senior Fellowship and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2013 to study how dysregulation of stem cell function contributes to human diseases and cancer. In 2019, she accepted a Professorship at the DKFZ in Heidelberg Germany where her group studies mechanisms regulating gene expression that regulate stem cell fate in normal tissues and cancer. Since 2023, Michaela Frye is deputy scientific director at the DKFZ. 

Link to Michaela Frye lab at the DKFZ


GSCN 2025 Publication of the Year

Bryce Lim, Aryan Kamal, … , Judith Zaugg and Moritz Mall receive the GSCN 2025 Publication of the Year Award for their joint publication "Active repression of cell fate plasticity by PROX1 safeguards hepatocyte identity and prevents liver tumorigenesis” in the journal Nature Genetics 57, 668–679 (2025), published on 13 Feb. 2025.

Bryce Lim and Moritz Mall (both DKFZ), Aryan Kamal and Judith Zaugg (both EMBL and Uni Basel) have discovered in an outstanding publication how cells in the liver maintain their identity and avoid becoming tumor cells. The new collaborative study led to the identification of a crucial protein, called PROX1, which is functioning as a safeguard protein. The collaborators computationally predicted so-called safeguard repressors for 18 cell types that block phenotypic plasticity lifelong, reducing the chance of the cells to transform into cancer cells. They maintain the liver cell identity and prevent the formation of liver cancer. In liver cancer patient samples, higher levels of PROX1 correlate with better prognosis and longer survival. In preclinical liver cancer mouse models, PROX1 can halt cancer formation and slow down cancer progression. This work paves the way to developing novel therapeutic strategies for liver cancer and to discovering similar factors in other cell and cancer types.

                    
Bryce Lim; Moritz Mall (©DKFZ)        Judith Zaugg (© EMBL)

Links to Bryce Lim, Aryan Kamal, Judith Zaugg and Moritz Mall

Bryce Lim studied Natural Sciences and Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, earning a BA (Hons) in 2018 and an MSci in 2019. While in Cambridge, he held research positions at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, EMBL-EBI, and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Bryce completed his PhD in Cancer Biology at Heidelberg University and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in 2023. He continued as a postdoctoral researcher until 2024, when he joined ZS Associates in London, where he advises pharmaceutical companies on strategic and scientific topics.

Moritz Mall is a junior group leader at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and founding member of the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR). His lab studies cellular plasticity—how cells change identity—a process central to cancer and therapy resistance. Using stem cell and organoid models of brain and liver, his team investigates the genetic and epigenetic control of malignant transitions to discover new treatments.
Moritz Mall studied in Munich and Zurich, earned his PhD at EMBL Heidelberg, and trained at Stanford University as a German Research Foundation fellow. He has received several major awards, including an ERC Starting Grant and the Hella Bühler Prize for cancer research.
In addition to publishing in journals such as Nature, Dr. Mall is committed to outreach and translational science. He actively supports families affected by rare autism-associated disorders and works closely with patient communities. His team’s research has already contributed to compassionate-use therapies, showing how patient-driven science can help bring targeted treatments to the clinic.

Judith Zaugg is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Basel and a group leader at the Department of Biomedicine. She also holds a group leader position at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. Her research focuses on gene regulation, transcription factors, and the epigenetic mechanisms underlying stem cell plasticity in hematology and immunology. She combines computational biology with single-cell and spatial genomics to understand the interplay between genetic programs and the cellular microenvironment in health and disease.

What are the GSCN Awards?

The GSCN Awards are annual scientific prizes for stem cell researchers. The GSCN started with their awards in 2015 with the aim to annnounce and strengthen extraordinary success for specific groups:
 The GSCN Young Investigator Award goes to a young scientist, the candidate should be within 12 years after the doctorate degree and in a non-tenured faculty (independent) position. GSCN membership is not required.
The GSCN Hilde Mangold Award  goes to an outstanding female scientist who is an excellent scientist and whose performance can serve as a role model and encouragement to young female scientists.
The GSCN Publication of the Year is an award for an excellent publication in stem cell fields, published in the past year with the work carried out in an institution in Germany.

Everybody can suggest online an GSCN Awardee. A top-class commission will support the GSCN in choosing each year´s awardees. The three ­awardees will give a presentation in the Presidential Symposium at the annual GSCN Conference.

GSCN Hilde Mangold Award

Awarded annually, the GSCN Female Scientist Award has now been rebranded as the GSCN Hilde Mangold Award. The new name is in recognition of German embryologist Hilde Mangold (born October 20, 1898, in Gotha; died September 4, 1924, in Berlin). Mangold performed key experiments which paved the way for the discovery of the embryonic organizer, thereby playing a seminal role in the development of embryology. Her early death in a tragic accident prevented her from being honored together with Hans Spemann when the latter was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the organizer effect in 1935.
The annual GSCN science prize is bestowed on outstanding female stem cell researchers. In addition to scientific achievement, the jury also aims to recognize the award winner’s achievement as a role model for young female scientists. As before, women continue to be underrepresented in stem cell research leadership positions at universities and research institutes.

GSCN Awards 2025

You can suggest an GSCN Awardee for 2025-26 - deadline for the nomination is 16 June 2025. Please propose in the categories below.
A top-class commission will support the GSCN in choosing this year´s awardees. The three ­awardees will give a presentation in the Presidential Symposium on Thursday, 16 October 2025 at 14:00 – 16:15 h in the Plenary Hall at the GSCN Conference (15 - 17 Oct. 2025 in Munich - find all information here).

The awards are:
GSCN 2025 Young Investigator Award
Please suggest a proposal here 
GSCN 2025 Hilde Mangold Award

Please suggest a proposal here
GSCN 2025 Publication of the Year Award
Please suggest a publication and author via mail to office@gscn.org.

Contact

Please contact Stefanie Mahler for more information or pictures of the awardees.

Stefanie Mahler
Stefanie Mahler
Communication


phone: +49 (0)30 450 54 3648
e-mail: stefanie.mahler@bih-charite.de

Past GSCN Awardees

Find all related information here.

2024:
GSCN 2024 Young Investigator Award:
Claudia Gerri
GSCN 2024 Hilde Mangold Award:
Mina Gouti
GSCN 2024 Publication of the Year:
Jorge Lázaro, ... Miki Ebisuya 

2023:
GSCN 2023 Young Investigator Award:
Meike Hohwieler
GSCN 2023 Hilde Mangold Award:
Anne Grapin-Botton
GSCN 2023 Publication of the Year:
Ruzhica Bogeska ... Michael D. Milson

2022:
GSCN 2022 Young Investigator Award:
Simon Haas
GSCN 2022 Hilde Mangold Award:
Meritxell Huch
GSCN 2022 Publication of the Year:
Adam C. O’Neill, Fatma Uzbas, Giulia Antognolli, Florencia Merino, Magdalena Götz

2021:
GSCN 2021 Young Investigator Award:
Elvira Mass
GSCN 2021 Hilde Mangold Award:
Katja Schenke-Layland
GSCN 2021 Publication of the Year:
Katharina Scheibner, Heiko Lickert, Ingo Burtscher, Silvia Schirge

2020:
GSCN 2020 Young Investigator Award:
Barbara Treutlein
GSCN 2020 Female Scientist Award:
Edith Heard
GSCN 2020 Publication of the Year:
Sergiy Velychko and Hans R. Schöler

2019:
GSCN 2019 Young Investigator Award:
Nico Lachmann 
 GSCN 2019 Female Scientist Award:
Ana Martin-Villalba
GSCN 2019 Publication of the Year:
Germán Camargo Ortega and Magdalena Götz

2018:
GSCN 2018 Young Investigator Award:
Nina Cabezas-Wallscheid
GSCN 2018 Female Scientist Award:
Maria Elena Torres-Padilla
GSCN 2018 Publication of the Year:
Maja Milanovic and Clemens Schmitt

2017:
GSCN 2017 Young Investigator Award:
Francesco Neri
GSCN 2017 Female Scientist Award:
Elly Tanaka
GSCN 2017 Publication of the Year:
J. Gray Camp, Keisuke Sekine, Takanori Takebe and Barbara Treutlein

2016:
GSCN 2016 Young Investigator Award:
Leo Kurian
GSCN 2016 Female Scientist Award:
Claudia Waskow
GSCN 2016 Publication of the Year Award:
Guangqi Song, Martin Pacher, Michael Ott and Amar Deep Sharma

2015:
GSCN 2015Young Investigator Award:
Julia Ladewig 
GSCN 2015 Female Scientist Award:
Magdalena Götz 
GSCN 2015 Publication of the Year Award:
Jichang Wang and Zsuzsanna Izsvák 
 

 

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