Member of SFB 914 receives research award

Ludwig Weckbach, member of SFB 914, received this year´s Georg Heberer Award for his research work on the functional role of the cytokine midkine for neutrophil trafficking. He shares the award with Maximilian Gassenmeier. In the awarded study (1), Ludwig Weckbach and co-workers found that the cytokine midkine supports adhesion of neutrophils by promoting the high affinity conformation of β₂ integrins.

The Georg Heberer Award is endowed by the US-American Chiles Foundation in order to support young scientists working on research projects in the field of surgery or related clinical disciplines.

Ludwig Weckbach performed his work as MD student in Barbara Walzog's lab (project A2) at the Walter-Brendel-Centre of Experimental Medicine. He was one of the first members of the IRTG on Leukocyte Trafficking. During his MD thesis, he was supported by an MD fellowship of SFB 914.

Since 2013 Ludwig Weckbach works as physician in the Department of Cardiology at the LMU hospital Großhadern (Director: Steffen Massberg; projects A3, B2, Z1) and continues his research studies on neutrophil trafficking in inflammation.

Please also see the accompanying LMU press release.

Publication:

Weckbach LT, Gola A, Winkelmann M, Jakob SM, Groesser L, Borgolte J, Pogoda F, Pick R, Pruenster M, Muller-Hocker J, Deindl E, Sperandio M, Walzog B. (2014) The cytokine midkine supports neutrophil trafficking during acute inflammation by promoting adhesion via beta2 integrins (CD11/CD18).
Blood 123:1887-96

Contact:

Ludwig Weckbach
Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik I - Kardiologie
Klinikum der Universität München - Großhadern
Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 München
ludwig.weckbach@med.uni-muenchen.de