Triple Honours for Franziska Sendker
The junior scientist has received the Otto Hahn Medal and Otto Hahn Award from the Max Planck Society (MPG) and the Doctoral Award from the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM)
Dr Franziska Sendker, a former doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, has been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal and the Otto Hahn Award of the Max Planck Society. The medal honours the outstanding achievements of young scientists and comes with a prize of 7,500 euros. The Otto Hahn Award will enable her to establish her own research group at an MPI of her choice.In March 2025, she received the Bayer Pharmaceuticals Doctoral Award from the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM e.V.), presented at the Mosbach Colloquium. Franziska Sendker's research showed that complex protein forms can arise not only through natural selection, but also through random genetic changes.
In the research group of Prof. Dr. Georg Hochberg, Max Planck Research Group Leader and now LOEWE Professor at Philipps University in Marburg, Franziska Sendker investigated why enzymes form complex structures and the factors that determine the evolution of these forms.
Most enzymes do not work as individual molecules, but rather as large complexes made up of many identical parts. These 'homo-oligomeric complexes' are found in all groups of organisms and perform crucial functions. But why did these complex structures emerge in the first place?
According to evolutionary theory, any change that persists is assumed to be associated with an evolutionary advantage. However, new research suggests that this is not the only reason. In a large-scale study, Franziska Sendker compared the structure of the enzyme citrate synthase in different organisms from various groups. To achieve this, she characterised the enzyme in dozens of modern proteins and numerous reconstructed evolutionary precursor proteins. She employed various methods, including measuring enzymatic properties, determining molecular structures, and genetically modifying cyanobacterial host organisms. Sendker's results demonstrate that protein structures often change over evolutionary time, taking on diverse forms that are not always the result of natural selection, but rather random genetic changes.
The researcher also made an unexpected new discovery during her work: a citrate synthase from blue-green algae that assembles itself into a complex pattern consisting of many parts to form a fractal resembling the famous Sierpiński triangle (see press release).
Fractals are characterised by the repetition of a pattern from large to small, as seen, for example, in fern leaves. This enzyme variant is the first known example of a regular fractal in the molecular world. "In our in vivo studies, the fractal protein complexes did not confer any fitness advantage to the cyanobacterial host. This suggests that even the most complex forms of protein complexes can arise through small changes in nature and be maintained over long periods of time."
These research results have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of proteins and their functions. These principles could also be applied to other biological systems, potentially revolutionising our understanding of protein evolution and function.
Dr. Franziska Sendker studied molecular medicine in Freiburg and biochemistry in Leipzig. She completed her PhD in chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
The Otto Hahn Medal is awarded annually to up to 30 young scientists. With this award, the MPG honours young scientists who have demonstrated exceptional talent. Established in 1978, the medal is named after the renowned German chemist and Nobel Prize winner Otto Hahn (1879–1968), who also served as president of the MPG from 1948 to 1960.
The Otto Hahn Award offers particularly outstanding winners of the Otto Hahn Medal the opportunity to take on the leadership of a small research group after a stay abroad. They can carry out their own research project at a Max Planck Institute of their choice. The award is intended to pave the way for a long-term research career in Germany.
The Bayer Prize for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is awarded annually by the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It recognises outstanding doctoral theses written at German universities or technical colleges within two years of the award ceremony and is presented at the annual Mosbach Colloquium.
