Award Celebrates Molecular Pharmacology Studies at LIH

The international 2019 Galien Prize in Pharmacology has been awarded to Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) scientists Dr Andy Chevigné and Dr Martyna Szpakowska from the LIH Department of Infection and Immunity (DII) for their outstanding contribution to molecular pharmacology.

Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgian Minister of Public Health and Social Affairs, along with representatives of pharmaceutical companies and healthcare hubs attended the virtual prize ceremony. The two LIH researchers were commended for their continuous achievements over the last eight years in advancing the understanding of the relevance, role, function and pharmacology of atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs) and their ligands research activities and also for establishing and co-supervising the first molecular pharmacology academic laboratory in Luxembourg, which is located at the LIH Department of Infection and Immunity. The main objectives of their research group are to investigate the roles of chemokines and their receptors in immune disorders, cancer, viral infections and neuro-inflammatory diseases, ultimately leading to the development of drugs targeting these molecular components.

Presenting his team’s work at the ceremony, Dr Chevigné, Principal Investigator and Group Leader of the Immuno-Pharmacology and Interactomics group said: “We are humbled and grateful to the jury for this unique opportunity. The Galien Prize is the highest accolade (for our team) for pharmaceutical research and development and competition was indeed very strong. I am therefore extremely proud of the work we have been able to accomplish so far. This achievement will give additional visibility and credibility to the research performed at LIH and in Luxembourg in general.”

 “Receiving the prize has been even more gratifying considering that it has been awarded to Luxembourgish researchers for the first time in 38 years! This is a further confirmation of the excellent international reputation of our institute and of the Grand Duchy as a whole”, added Dr Martyna Szpakowska.

Organised yearly by Roularta HealthCare, and the Journal du Médecin/Artsenkrant, the Galien Prize in Pharmacology consists of a gold medal and a sum of EUR 5,000. It is granted to a scientist or group of scientists under the age of 40 performing clinical or fundamental pharmacology research within a Belgian or Luxembourgish academic institute.