Research Group Leader Dr. Viola Introini receives Hector Research Career Development Award
The Hector Research Career Development Award honors young researchers on their way to becoming professors. This year, it will be awarded to Dr. Viola Introini, among others. She is head of the “Vascular Infection” research group at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM). As a prize winner, she will receive €25,000 to support her research and funding for a doctoral position, including €9,500 per year for research expenses. She will also become a member of the Hector Fellow Academy for five years.
Viola Introini conducts interdisciplinary research into malaria. Together with her team, she is investigating how malaria affects the human body on a biological and genetic level. To this end, she develops and uses patient-based models of artificial blood vessels: “With the support of this award, I plan to (...) develop a physiologically relevant 3D model of the microvessels of the retina based on real images of patients with cerebral malaria. This model will replicate the blood-retinal barrier, provide insight into malaria pathology, and help us understand the processes taking place in the brain (...).” With the help of these models, Viola Introini hopes to decipher the underlying mechanisms of malaria more precisely and, on this basis, develop targeted effective therapies for humans.
The Hector Fellow Academy’s funding program is aimed at particularly talented young researchers in the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, or psychology who have already honed their scientific profile and taken their first steps in their careers. In addition to Viola Introini, chemist Robert Hein and AI researcher Maximilian Dax will also be honored for the year 2025. The award ceremony will take place on May 20, 2026 in Munich.
About the Hector Fellow Academy
In 2013, Hans-Werner Hector, one of the founders of the software company SAP, established the Hector Fellow Academy. His goal was to strengthen Germany as a center for research and science, initiate forward-looking socio-political discourse, and contribute to solving global challenges. To date, more than 30 outstanding researchers from the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, and psychology have received the annual Hector Science Award. The science academy not only offers these Hector Fellows a platform for exchange and promotion of joint interdisciplinary research projects. It has also set itself the task of passing on the wealth of experience of its members to the next generation. To this end, the Hector Fellow Academy funds doctoral positions for graduates with above-average master’s degrees and has established the Hector Research Career Development Award (Hector RCD Award).
