Pengbo Sun, KiTZ PhD candidate in the group "Clinical Bioinformatics", department of pediatric neuro-oncology at the DKFZ, received the "Annemarie Poustka Award" on 16 November 2018. She scored the top marks in 2018 PhD for Research Program B.
The German Cancer Research Center awards two three-year PhD positions per year to students undertaking their PhD studies in Research Program B, “Functional and Structural Genomics”. These fellowship positions are awarded to exceptional PhD candidates recruited through the bi-annual selection of the Helmholtz International Graduate School for Cancer Research.
The award is given in memory of Professor Annemarie Poustka, who died in 2008, and her exceptional contribution to genome research. Annemarie Poustka led the Division of Molecular Genome Analysis at the German Cancer Research Center and was a pioneer of genome research in Germany. In the 1980s, together with colleagues from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, she developed the scientific methods that enabled the human genome to be fully sequenced. In addition to her leading position in the German Human Genome Project she was, for many years a speaker at the National Genome Research Network, and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Human Genome Organisation (HUGO).
With vision, she educated and supported an entire generation of young scientists and was a great example to them. The award was handed over by Professor Fritz Poustka, husband of Annemarie Poustka.
