Freiburg's science star: Simon Elsässer honored as a Humboldt professor!

Freiburg's science star: Simon Elsässer honored as a Humboldt professor!

Freiburg, Deutschland - On June 5, 2025, Simon Elsässer was appointed as the new Alexander von Humboldt Professor to the University of Freiburg. Alsatian researches intensively for the interpretation of the genetic construction plan of human cells, especially during embryonic development. His work focuses on how cells use information from their past development and current environmental influences to form embryo structures. This research is not only of fundamental interest, but could also produce decisive clinical applications.

With a wide range of methods that includes genomics, proteomics and synthetic biology, Alsatian develops methods and model systems to understand how cells process information at molecular level. A central concern of his research is to investigate the “forgetting” of the original determination of cells, which can lead to the development of tumors. In the past, Elsässer worked as an association professor at the Karolinska institute in Sweden and has made a name for himself with numerous awards, including the Svedberg Prize.

about the Alexander von Humboldt professorship

This prestigious science award is awarded by the Alexander from Humboldt Foundation in Germany for experts who are from Switch to a German university abroad. The professorship is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, with the aim of promoting long -term, future -oriented research in Germany and strengthening international competitiveness. Humboldt professorships have been awarded every year since 2008; In 2020, special professorships for artificial intelligence were introduced.

computer -aided analyzes in medicine

innovations in medical research are also shaped by pioneers like Peter N. Robinson. Robinson, who developed the Human Phenotype Ontology in 2008, supports the early diagnosis of genetic diseases with his database through the assignment of clinical appearances. This contains remarkable 13,000 disease characteristics and 156,000 annotations for hereditary diseases, and makes diagnostics considerably easier.

In addition, the use of artificial intelligence (KI) in genome research was examined on Karlsruhe Institute of Technology . The project aims to develop new therapeutic approaches for serious illnesses and to research potential “improvements” of the genetic engineering. By using advanced methods of mechanical learning, especially deep learning, complex biophysical relationships in human genome are to be made visible.

The combination of AI with techniques of genetic novel analysis opens new ways of effective therapies for diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and dementia. The social and political implications of these developments are analyzed as part of the “Deepen Genomic” project, and the researchers intend to advise political decision -makers and to actively shape the future of medicine.