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For his outstanding research in the field of RNA biology, Dr Jirka Peschek is being awarded by the Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation. The scientist, who leads a research group at the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH), is set to receive the biomedical research prize named after the founders. With this award, the Foundation recognizes the pioneering insights that he and his team have achieved into the molecular foundations of RNA processing and RNA repair. The prize is endowed with research funding amounting to 100,000 euros and will be presented at a ceremony on 26 November 2025.
Press Release
Heidelberg, 19 November 2025
Chica and Heinz Schaller Award: Funding for Outstanding Biomedical Research
Prize-winner Dr Jirka Peschek receives 100,000 euros in research funding for his work in the field of RNA biology
For his outstanding research in the field of RNA biology, Dr Jirka Peschek is being awarded by the Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation. The scientist, who leads a research group at the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH), is set to receive the biomedical research prize named after the founders. With this award, the Foundation recognizes the pioneering insights that he and his team have achieved into the molecular foundations of RNA processing and RNA repair. The prize is endowed with research funding amounting to 100,000 euros and will be presented at a ceremony on 26 November 2025.
At the Biochemistry Center, Dr Peschek leads an Emmy Noether Junior Research Group investigating the molecular foundations of ribonucleic acid (RNA) maturation and repair. Using an interdisciplinary approach combining protein and RNA biochemistry, structural biology and genetic modelling, the researchers have managed to reveal key details of a central mechanism of RNA maturation – the splicing of tRNA. Transfer RNA (tRNA) plays a key role in translating genetic information from the nucleus into amino acids for protein synthesis. To achieve this, the sections that do not contain relevant information must first be removed from pre-tRNAs. In this context, Dr Peschek and his team have examined, in particular, which enzymes are involved in this process and how they cleave, rejoin and repair RNA strands. With their work, the scientists are offering valuable insights into the structural and mechanistic processes that contribute to RNA integrity and repair. Jirka Peschek’s findings open up new avenues for research into the biology of ribonucleic acids, according to the Foundation’s statement of reasons for awarding the Chica and Heinz Schaller Advancement Prize to the biochemist.
Jirka Peschek studied biochemistry at the Technical University of Munich, where he also earned his doctorate in 2012. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco (USA). In 2020, he joined Heidelberg University to establish his own research group at the BZH with funding from the German Research Foundation’s Emmy Noether Programme. As project leader, Dr Peschek conducts research within the DFG-funded transregional Collaborative Research Centre “RMaP: RNA Modification and Processing”, which is based at the universities of Heidelberg and Mainz.
The Foundation established by scientists Prof. Dr Chica Schaller and Prof. Dr Heinz Schaller has funded biomedical basic research in Heidelberg since 2000. That involves, in particular, setting up and financing the “Schaller Research Groups”, which operate at Heidelberg University. The main funding instruments also include the research prize named after the donors, which has been awarded annually to outstanding young Heidelberg scientists since 2005.
The first speaker at the award ceremony on 26 November 2025 will be Prof. Dr Rohini Kuner, Chairperson of the Chica und Heinz Schaller Foundation’s Board of Directors. As Chairperson of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council, Prof. Dr Hans-Georg Kräusslich will trace the origins of the prize and its founders. In his laudatory address, Prof. Dr Ed Hurt, Senior Professor at the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center, will pay tribute to the prize-winner’s scientific career and work. Dr Jirka Peschek will explain the focus and aims of his research in the “2025 Schaller Prize Lecture”. The award will be presented by Foundation Board Member, Prof. Dr Ralf Bartenschlager, who will also deliver the closing remarks. The academic event celebrating the Chica and Heinz Schaller Award for Biomedical Research is taking place in the Marsilius Kolleg lecture hall, Im Neuenheimer Feld 130.1, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Contact:
Heidelberg University
Communications and Marketing
Press Office, phone +49 6221 54-2311
presse@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de
https://chs-stiftung.de – Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation
https://bzh.db-engine.de/group/77/jirka%20peschek – Jirka Peschek
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