Award for outstanding achievements in natural product research

Prof Rolf Müller is the founding and scientific director of the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), where he also heads the Department of “Microbial Natural Products”. He is also a professor of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Saarland University and coordinates the research area “Novel Antibiotics” at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). He is receiving the Tu Youyou Award 2024 for his achievements in the field of pharmaceutical natural product research. Together with his interdisciplinary team, Müller focuses on isolating previously unknown soil bacteria and using them to produce pharmaceutical natural products. In particular, he is working on the discovery and development of new active substances for the treatment of infections with bacterial pathogens that are already resistant to a large number of clinically used antibiotics. Such active substances are urgently needed by society to mitigate the growing threat posed by multi-resistant pathogens. Müller will share the prize money for this year's award equally with Prof Richard DiMarchi from Indiana University Bloomington (USA). HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in collaboration with Saarland University.

Jürgen Barke, Minister of Economics of Saarland, says: “The HIPS is a globally recognizsed flagship institute for drug research. Prof Müller's scientific work has played a decisive role in this development. Receiving the Tu Youyou Award is a well-deserved reward and I would like to offer my warmest congratulations.”