Cambridge researcher Prof Lalita Ramakrishnan wins Robert Koch Prize 2024 for pioneering TB work
Cambridge researcher Prof Lalita Ramakrishnan has become the fourth woman in history to receive on her own the coveted Robert Koch Prize 2024, which was awarded in Berlin for her pioneering work on tuberculosis.
Prof Ramakrishnan, an honorary consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and University of Cambridge professor of immunology and infectious diseases, receives 120,000 Euros towards research.
Prof Ramakrishnan, a group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, is a renowned TB researcher, having developed important tools to help us understand the disease.
She said: “I am thrilled to receive this recognition as we further explore the mechanisms of TB pathogenesis and drug resistance, while continuing to move our laboratory findings to clinical studies and trials.
“We use the tiny transparent zebrafish larva to model TB pathogenesis. This prize recognises the value of taking such unorthodox approaches to understand human disease and identify new treatments.”
The optical transparency and genetic and pharmacological tractability of zebrafish larva helps Prof Ramakrishnan to monitor TB infection in real-time.
Set up in 1907, the Berlin-based Robert Koch Foundation brings attention to the rapid progression of medical sciences, in particular the fields of infectious diseases.
The Robert Koch Prize is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany.
Prof Dr Wolfgang Plischke, chairman of the Robert Koch Foundation, said: “It is an honour for us to celebrate the work of Prof Dr Lalita Ramakrishnan, a top scientist who is doing pioneering work in tuberculosis research.
“The disease is still one of the main causes of death, even though a live attenuated vaccine has been available for a century and effective antibiotics have been available for 60 years.”
Prof Ramakrishnan, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Royal Society, also won the 2024 The European Society of Mycobacteriology (ESM) Gardner Middlebrook Award.
This lifetime achievement award was started by the ESM in 1996 in memory of Gardner Middlebrook, a renowned authority on mass immunisation against TB.
