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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, April 7, 2025 – RNA researcher Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, professor of RNA therapeutics at UMass Chan Medical School, will receive this year's Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research on Mai 15, 2025. The award ceremony will be a part of the festive event together with the Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA celebrating the 100th birthday of Else Kröner, at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main.
The foundation Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) is honoring Khvorova's pioneering work in the field of RNA-based therapies. Her research contributes significantly to the development of new approaches for treating genetic and neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease. At 2.5 million euros, the Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research is one of the biggest research prizes in the world.
We cordially invite you to the award ceremony. Alongside the achievements of this year's prizewinner, the event will also be honoring the impressive legacy of Else Kröner.
Mai 15, 2025
6 p.m. (admission starts at 5 p.m.)
Städel Museum
Schaumainkai 63
60596 Frankfurt am Main
Please register your attendance with b.jerke@ekfs.de by Mai 10 at the latest, as this is a closed event.
If you would like to meet Anastasia Khvorova in person before the award ceremony, we would be happy to organize a meeting. On the occasion of Else Kröner's 100th birthday, we offer you the opportunity to talk with the Foundation's board of directors.
RNA therapeutics: a new generation of medicine
Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, is a professor of RNA therapeutics at UMass Chan Medical School. There, she heads a multidisciplinary research team of chemists, biologists, pharmacologists, and biochemists. In her laboratory, she develops and modifies RNA molecules to improve their effectiveness in the human body. RNA-based therapeutics use a variety of RNA molecules to fight diseases at the molecular level. These innovative approaches make it possible to inhibit the production of toxic proteins and stimulate the production of missing proteins.
Khvorova's work focuses on chemical modifications that improve the delivery, stability, efficacy, and specificity of such therapeutics. In practice, RNA molecules often remain inaccessible to organs other than the liver. Much of Khvorova's research to date has focused on enabling RNA therapeutics to reach other organs, including the brain, muscle, heart, lung, and placenta, so that they can effectively carry out their function.
Khvorova plans to use the prize money to develop novel RNA molecules to prevent the production of toxic proteins in the brain. Such abnormal proteins are behind aging and many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's disease. Huntington's disease is a rare and fatal disease characterized by progressive movement disorders with impaired breathing, bedriddenness and susceptibility to infections. The symptoms typically begin when people are in their 30s to 50s. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation of autosomal dominant inheritance.
Information about the prize winner
Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, has more than two decades of experience pioneering oligonucleotide-based drug development. She began her scientific career in Moscow, where she completed her academic training and earned her doctorate in 1994. In 1995, Khvorova moved to the United States, where she has conducted research at various universities and held senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry. She holds more than 150 patents and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. She has been a professor in the RNA Therapeutics Institute at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts since 2012.
Background to the Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research
The Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research was awarded for the first time in 2013 on the 25th anniversary of the death of Else Kröner. It distinguishes outstanding scientists whose work is expected to yield groundbreaking discoveries. The prize is worth 2.5 million euros – and is thus one of the most highly endowed prizes for medical research.
More information about the prize and the prize winner can be found at: www.ekfprize25.de
Event details
This year's award ceremony is embedded in a festive event held by the Fresenius Group, celebrating the 100th birthday of the Foundation's initiator Else Kröner and honoring her exceptional dedication to medical research. In addition to awarding the prize, the program offers insights into the life and work of Else Kröner.
At 21 years of age, as the foster daughter of Dr. Eduard Fresenius, she took over the management of his pharmaceutical company upon his death. Under her management, the originally small business grew to an internationally successful healthcare group, the present-day Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA. Her life's work includes not only building up the global company, but also establishing the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation in 1983. Else Kröner died suddenly on June 5, 1988. Thereupon, her entire fortune went, as stated in her will, to the Foundation.
Highlights of the event
• Awarding of the 2.5 million euro Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research 2025 to Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, in the field of RNA-based therapies
• A speech by Nobel Prize winner Craig C. Mello, PhD, about RNA therapeutics and the prizewinner
• A look back on the life of Else Kröner and her legacy
We look forward to meeting you at this event, where we unite the past, present, and future of medicine.
More information
EKFS website: https://ekfprize25.de
Anastasia Khvorova's website: https://www.umassmed.edu/khvorovalab/
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) – Advancing research. Helping people.
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the funding and advancement of medical research and the support of humanitarian projects. To date the foundation has funded around 2,600 projects. With an annual funding volume currently amounting to over 70 million euros it is the largest foundation in Germany that actively funds and supports medicine. You can find more information at: www.ekfs.de
Press Contact
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung
Bianka Jerke
Public Relations
Email: b.jerke@ekfs.de
Dr. Alexander Lehmann
Scientific Funding: Graduate and Research Schools and International Research Prize
a.lehmann@ekfs.de
+49 (6172) 8975-25
Anastasia Khvorova
RNA Therapeutics Institute
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists
Medicine
transregional, national
Press events, Research projects
English
Anastasia Khvorova
RNA Therapeutics Institute
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