Professor Christian Drosten, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, will receive a Special Award for Outstanding Science Communication in the COVID-19 pandemic from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German Stifterverband.
The award recognizes Drosten’s exemplary science communication during the current pandemic and carries a prize of €50,000. The virologist and coronavirus expert takes part in the popular podcast “Coronavirus Update“, which is produced by the German public radio station NDR Info and explains the science behind SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 to the German public. He has also advised politicians on the COVID-19 situation.
The DFG and the Stifterverband note that Drosten has succeeded in making research the most reliable source of orientation for managing the crisis in the public’s perception. Through a clear, fact-based approach, he explains what scientists know, how they work, and what uncertainties exist. He also corrects scientifically unproven ideas, makes the limits of his own knowledge clear, and regularly points out that science involves continuously revising what we thought we knew.
Christian Drosten studied medicine at the University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. After his graduation in 2000, he held a variety of positions at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany. In 2007, he was appointed Professor and Head of the Institute of Virology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn, Germany, before becoming director of the Institute of Virology at Charité, Berlin, in 2017. Since 2013, Drosten has been the spokesperson for the DFG Priority Programme “Ecology and Species Barriers in Emerging Viral Diseases”. In 2005, he was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit.
Selected Publications
- SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry Depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and Is Blocked by a Clinically Proven Protease Inhibitor,
Markus Hoffmann, Hannah Kleine-Weber, Simon Schroeder, Nadine Krüger, Tanja Herrler, Sandra Erichsen, Tobias S. Schiergens, Georg Herrler, Nai-Huei Wu, Andreas Nitsche, Marcel A. Müller, Christian Drosten, Stefan Pöhlmann,
Cell 2020, 181, 271–280.e8.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.052 - The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2,
Alexander E. Gorbalenya, Susan C. Baker, Ralph S. Baric, Raoul J. de Groot, Christian Drosten, Anastasia A. Gulyaeva, Bart L. Haagmans, Chris Lauber, Andrey M. Leontovich, Benjamin W. Neuman, Dmitry Penzar, Stanley Perlman, Leo L. M. Poon, Dmitry V. Samborskiy, Igor A. Sidorov, Isabel Sola, John Ziebuhr,
Nat. Microbiol. 2020, 5, 536–544.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-0695-z - Transmission of 2019-nCoV Infection from an Asymptomatic Contact in Germany,
Camilla Rothe, Mirjam Schunk, Peter Sothmann, Gisela Bretzel, Guenter Froeschl, Claudia Wallrauch, Thorbjörn Zimmer, Verena Thiel, Christian Janke, Wolfgang Guggemos, Michael Seilmaier, Christian Drosten, Patrick Vollmar, Katrin Zwirglmaier, Sabine Zange, Roman Wölfel, Michael Hoelscher,
N. Engl. J. Med. 2020, 382, 970–971.
https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2001468 - Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 is a functional receptor for the emerging human coronavirus-EMC,
V. Stalin Raj, Huihui Mou, Saskia L. Smits, Dick H. W. Dekkers, Marcel A. Müller, Ronald Dijkman, Doreen Muth, Jeroen A. A. Demmers, Ali Zaki, Ron A. M. Fouchier, Volker Thiel, Christian Drosten, Peter J. M. Rottier, Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus, Berend Jan Bosch, Bart L. Haagmans,
Nature 2013, 495, 251–254.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12005 - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV): Announcement of the Coronavirus Study Group,
Raoul J. de Groot, Susan C. Baker, Ralph S. Baric, Caroline S. Brown, Christian Drosten, Luis Enjuanes, Ron A. M. Fouchier, Monica Galiano, Alexander E. Gorbalenya, Ziad A. Memish, Stanley Perlman, Leo L. M. Poon, Eric J. Snijder, Gwen M. Stephens, Patrick C. Y. Woo, Ali M. Zaki, Maria Zambon, John Ziebuhr,
J. Virol. 2013, 87, 7790–7792.
https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01244-13 - Bats host major mammalian paramyxoviruses,
Jan Felix Drexler, Victor Max Corman, Marcel Alexander Müller, Gael Darren Maganga, Peter Vallo, Tabea Binger, Florian Gloza-Rausch, Veronika M. Cottontail, Andrea Rasche, Stoian Yordanov, Antje Seebens, Mirjam Knörnschild, Samuel Oppong, Yaw Adu Sarkodie, Célestin Pongombo, Alexander N. Lukashev, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, Andreas Stöcker, Aroldo José Borges Carneiro, Stephanie Erbar, Andrea Maisner, Florian Fronhoffs, Reinhard Buettner, Elisabeth K. V. Kalko, Thomas Kruppa, Carlos Roberto Franke, René Kallies, Emmanuel R.N. Yandoko, Georg Herrler, Chantal Reusken, Alexandre Hassanin, Detlev H. Krüger, Sonja Matthee, Rainer G. Ulrich, Eric M. Leroy, Christian Drosten,
Nat. Commun. 2012.
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1796
Also of Interest
- Podcast: Coronavirus-Update mit Christian Drosten (in German),
NDR Info. - Structure of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease as a Basis for Drug Design,
ChemistryViews.org 2020.
X-ray structures of promising target lead to improved drug candidate - Collection: SARS-CoV-2 Virus
What we know about the new coronavirus and COVID-19 - LitCovid
Curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about COVID-19 - Many publishers and other entities have signed a joint statement to ensure that COVID-19 research findings and data are shared rapidly and openly
