Ernst Schering Prize awarded to Volker Haucke: Leibniz-FMP

Dr. Ina Czyborra, Senator for Higher Education and Research (left) and Prof. Dr. Max Löhning, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Schering Foundation (right), present the award to Prof. Dr. Volker Haucke. © Schering Foundation/Michael Setzpfandt

Prof. Dr. Volker Haucke, Director of the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) in Berlin and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at Freie Universität Berlin, has been awarded the Ernst Schering Prize 2025.

On Monday, November 24, 2025, Dr. Ina Czyborra, Senator for Science and Higher Education and Prof. Dr. Max Löhning, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Schering Foundation, presented him with the award at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The prize, endowed with 50.000 euros, has been awarded to a scientist in Berlin for the first time.

The prestigious science prize recognizes Volker Hauckes outstanding discoveries on the function of signaling lipids, which control the cellular response to messenger substances, hormones, or nutrients and thus influence central processes in cell communication—with far-reaching consequences for the treatment of strokes, cancer, or neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Ina Czyborra, Senator for Higher Education and Research emphasized the relevance of this research in her welcoming speech: “Biomedical research shows particularly impressively how far scientific curiosity can take us. It opens up new perspectives on the mechanisms of life—and creates the basis for new therapeutic approaches.”

Another award, the Schering Young Investigator Award, was presented to Dr. Agnes Toth-Petroczy in recognition of her innovative work on disordered proteins.