The Foundation awards every year a Prize to honour personalities in Switzerland and abroad who have distinguished themselves in a particular way in certain fields of medical research.
As a rule the Prize is awarded between September 1 and December 31 of every year. The Board of Foundation is responsible for the adjudication; if necessary, it may consult the opinion of independent experts.
The next price ceremony will take place on Friday, 24 November 2023.
Since 1974, the Golden Book of the Foundation has honoured the prize winners with a page bearing their original signatures. Here we show examples of the pages of the first two prize winners and two more recent prize winners: The Golden Book
Cloëtta Prize 2022 awarded to researchers from Zurich and Geneva
The Professor Dr Max Cloëtta Foundation awarded the 2022 Cloëtta Prize again to two prestigious scientists. Professor Annette Oxenius, Professor of Immunology at the ETH Zurich and Professor Doron Merkler, Full Professor of Neuropathology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology and Academic Coordinator of the Geneva Centre for Inflammation Research at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) Faculty of Medicine, and Associate Physician in the Division of Clinical Pathology of the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) each received the scientific prize remunerated with 50,000 Swiss francs.
Annette Oxenius’ research centers around a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions, in particular how cells of the immune system can control or eliminate viral infections. infectious diseases and adaptive immunology.
Her internationally recognized oeuvre embodies an original and comprehensive approach to understanding fundamental mechanisms of how the immune system regulates and specifically adapts immune responses to the particular pathogen. This includes the analysis of the temporal dynamics of an immune response, the way immune cells in tissues exert their activity and how these processes are controlled at the molecular level. The focus of these analyses is on the so-called T- and B-lymphocytes, a group of white blood cells that can recognise and kill virus-infected cells or produce virus-specific antibodies. The work of Annette Oxenius and her team is basic research, the findings of which form the basis for developing potentially new immunological interventions for viral infections.
Doron Merkler is one of the world’s leading neuropathologists in the field of inflammatory brain research. He has made highly original and relevant discoveries regarding protective and harmful immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS). Among other things, his studies provided important insights into the mechanisms involved in the lesion pathogenesis of patients suffering from chronic neuroinflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS) and encephalitis. His exemplary translational research offers both a better understanding of immunopathology as well as of the design of novel therapeutic strategies to combat disabling immune diseases of the CNS. It has further opened an innovative new avenue of research with eminent clinical implications.
The video of the prize ceremony can be viewed here:
– Video Clo¨etta Prize 2022
Pictures of the award ceremony 2022:
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- Annette Oxenius unterschreibt im Goldenen Buch
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- Doron Merkler mit seiner Cloëtta-Goldmedaille
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- Teilen von Erinnerungen an vorherige Cloëtta-Preisverleihungen
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- v. links nach rechts: Prof. Fritjof Helmchen, Prof. emer. Hengartner, Prof. Annette Oxenius, Prof. Doron Merkler, Prof. emer. Lassmann
Cloëtta prize winners:
