The EMBO Gold Medal Jan Löwe - Winner of the 2007 EMBO Gold Medal. Press Release EMBO Members Workshop - Frontiers of Molecular Biology Jan Löwe's research and publications MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Increasing complexity of the bacterial cytoskeleton. (Møller-Jensen J, Löwe J.) Previous recipients Frank Uhlmann of London Research Institute wins "EMBO Gold" Dr Dario Alessi is the 2005 winner of the EMBO Gold Medal EMBO Gold Medal 2004 goes to Spanish scientist, María Blasco Anthony Hyman receives EMBO Gold Medal 2003

The EMBO Gold Medal is awarded on an annual basis and highlights the quality of molecular biology research being performed by young European research scientists.

The medal has been awarded to many outstanding scientists in the past. It brings the work of these researchers to the attention of a worldwide audience and can be perceived as an indicator of the standards being reached in European science. Awardees are also honoured as role models for other young scientists in Europe.

Winners of the EMBO Gold Medal receive a hand-crafted medal and a bursary of 10,000 euro. The award is presented at the annual EMBO Members Meeting, where the winning scientists have the opportunity to present a talk on their research.

2007 winner
Jan Löwe of the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB, Cambridge, UK) has been chosen as the 2007 winner of the EMBO Gold Medal. Jan was selected for the award “in recognition of his landmark work elucidating the structure and function of proteins involved in bacterial cell division,” said EMBO Executive Director, Hermann Bujard.

Jan’s adventure into the inner workings of bacteria began almost 11 years ago when he joined the MRC-LMB as a post-doc. His work with Linda Amos on trying to crystallise tubulin led to work on a bacterial version of it, called FtsZ. In 1998, Jan solved the structure of FtsZ. Three years later, his group determined the structure of MreB, a prokaryotic actin-like protein which had been discovered by Jeff Errington. The structural discoveries of FtsZ and MreB proved to be key pieces of evidence for the discovery of the bacterial cytoskeleton.

In addition to the EMBO Gold Medal, Löwe has received several other awards and accolades, including the Max-Perutz Prize for his work on the structure of FtsZ and the Philip Leverhulme prize. Jan has also been no stranger to EMBO over the years. His post-doc in Cambridge was funded by an EMBO Long-term fellowship, he was selected in 2000 to participate in EMBO’s highly competitive Young Investigator Programme and, in 2004, he was elected as an EMBO Member.

Annual nominations for the EMBO Gold Medal come from the EMBO membership and the winner is selected by a distinguished panel of EMBO Members.

The EMBO Gold Medal - Nomination Procedure

The EMBO Gold Medal awards roll includes many distinguished scientists: