Peter Palese and Yoshihiro Kawaoka are the joint winners of this year's Robert Koch Award, which carries prize money of €100,000. The scientists will be awarded the prize in recognition of their pioneering research into influenza viruses and the development of techniques using molecular genetics to produce and investigate these pathogens. For the first time, the new techniques allow the targeted production of influenza vaccines in a comparatively short time. In view of the current threat of an H5N1 pandemic, this is a particularly important and topical innovation.

Peter Palese is professor of microbiology and head of the Department of Microbiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and president of the American Society for Virology. Peter Palese has a doctorate in chemistry and was awarded the Austrian Medal of Honor for Science in 2005. He is editor of the Springer book Modulation of Host Gene Expression and Innate Immunity by Viruses (co-edited by Jean-Pierre Changeux) and has published numerous articles in scientific journals.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka is a professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is co-author of the article Human trachea primary epithelial cells express both sialyl(α2-3)Gal receptor for human parainfluenza virus type 1 and avian influenza viruses, and sialyl(α2-6)Gal receptor for human influenza viruses published in Springer's Glycoconjugate Journal.

Hans-Dieter Klenk, professor at the Institute of Virology in Marburg and chairman of the German Society for Virology, will be awarded the Robert Koch Gold Medal by the Robert Koch Foundation for his life's work as a scientist. Hans-Dieter Klenk has made an important contribution to research into the biology and development of infectious diseases through influenza, Ebola and Marburg viruses. He has published an article entitled Gangliosides are not essential for influenza virus infection in the Glycoconjugate Journal, and a paper in the Springer book 100 Years of Virology.

The Robert Koch Foundation promotes basic research in the field of infectious diseases and other widespread illnesses. The Robert Koch Award is one of Germany's highest scientific honors; it is awarded every year under the patronage of the German Minister of Health in recognition of outstanding, internationally acclaimed achievements in science.

The award ceremony will take place on November 3, 2006 in the Langenbeck Virchow Building in Berlin.

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Renate Bayaz
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