On March 26, the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) honored Patrick Cramer, Director at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry, with the Otto Warburg Medal. Virologist Christian Drosten of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin received the Eduard Buchner Prize. At the virtual event, both researchers presented their latest corona research results.
The question is considered one of the great mysteries of biology: How is the activity of genes controlled? The cell only copies active genes in the form of long RNA molecules, which then serve as building instructions for proteins. This copying process – called transcription – is carried out by biological nanomachines known as RNA polymerases. These are the focus of Cramer´s research in the Department of Molecular Biology.
“With his findings,…