Award of the Dr Maresch-Klingelhöffer Prize 2024 to PD Dr Dominik Sturm

The Board of Trustees is delighted to award the Dr Maresch-Klingelhöffer Prize 2024, endowed with € 10,000, to PD Dr Dominik Sturm. He is being honoured by the jury for the widespread use of a test procedure developed in Heidelberg that enables the precise diagnosis of brain tumours in children and adolescents.

The international study “Molecular Neuropathology 2.0” (link), coordinated by Dr Sturm at the Hopp Children’s Tumour Centre Heidelberg (KiTZ), was able to show on the basis of over 1,000 examined brain tumours in children and adolescents that the use of state-of-the-art molecular genetic analyses enables a more precise diagnosis – which in turn improves the prediction of the course of the disease and reveals possible targets for targeted therapy. The ground-breaking study results have contributed to the fact that these analyses are now reimbursed by health insurance companies in Germany, making them a prime example of the direct transfer of scientific progress into clinical practice.

The Dr. Maresch-Klingehöffer Prize has been awarded by the Frankfurt Foundation for Children with Cancer since 2008 for the best work by young scientists (up to the age of 40) in the field of paediatric oncology and haematology as well as for research areas directly related to the research focus. It is made possible by an endowment from Dr Otto Maresch and Doris Maresch-Klingelhöffer to our foundation in 2007. This year’s award ceremony will take place as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the foundation in Frankfurt.