Professor Teresa Thurston from the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford has been awarded the 2025 Pettenkofer Prize for her groundbreaking work on this year’s competition theme, “Modulation of the innate immune system by effector molecules of pathogenic bacteria.” The award ceremony took place on November 10, 2025, during a festive ceremony at Munich’s New Town Hall. The prestigious Pettenkofer Prize is awarded annually by the Pettenkofer Foundation, which is administered by the City of Munich. The chair of the foundation’s board of trustees, City Director Stefan Eckhardt, and Professor Sebastian Suerbaum, a member of the board of trustees who also gave the laudatory speech, as well as Dr. Julia Riedlinger, representing the sponsor Roche, paid tribute to the award winner. Prof. Thurston presented her award-winning work in a lecture. Teresa Thurston investigates the close interactions and “arms race” between bacterial pathogens such as salmonella and the human host. During the course of infection, many pathogens inject highly effective protein molecules (known as effectors) into human cells. Ms. Thurston was able to elucidate the mode of action of several such protein molecules and identify new mechanisms of action. She was able to show that some effectors can alter the specificity of important enzymes (kinases) involved in infection defense, a new mechanism known as kinase reprogramming.
After her lecture, Professor Thurston received the award certificate. The award ceremony and the prize money of EUR 5,000 were sponsored by Roche, with its life science competence center in Penzberg, to promote scientific research and the professional development of talented individuals.
This year, the Pettenkofer Foundation also awarded a Pettenkofer Doctoral Prize for the first time. Dr. Arne Cordsmeier (University of Erlangen) was selected as the first recipient for his publication on this year’s prize topic, which was developed in Prof. Anja Lührmann’s working group. The laudatory speech for the doctoral prize winner was given by Prof. Christine Josenhans from the Max von Pettenkofer Institute.
The Pettenkofer Foundation promotes science and research in the field of scientific and practical hygiene, medical microbiology, and virology. Pettenkofer’s name and life’s work are synonymous with the fight against infectious diseases. Max von Pettenkofer devoted himself in particular to combating cholera at the end of the 19th century. At his instigation, Munich’s sewer system was built, a central slaughterhouse was established, and Munich’s drinking water supply from the Mangfall Valley was introduced.