Hendrik Wolff Prize
 

Hendrik Wolff Prize for mass spectrometric methods in microbiology

On September 14, 2018, Dr. Hendrik Wolff passed away unexpectedly. Hendrik studied in the master’s program in Molecular Biotechnology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, graduated in 2014, and subsequently completed his doctorate in the Bode research group.

Hendrik was a very dedicated member of the btS – Biotechnological Student Initiative e.V. and regularly participated in the master’s program autumn school. In the Bode group and during his master’s studies, he introduced many students and doctoral candidates to mass spectrometry, developed statistical methods for analyzing large datasets, and established numerous collaborations with other research groups.

In close coordination with Hendrik’s family, we established the "Hendrik Wolff Prize for Mass Spectrometric Methods in Microbiology" to honor his memory. The prize, endowed with €500, has been awarded annually since 2022 to recent PhD graduates in this field during the VAAM Workshop “Biology of Bacterial Natural Product Producers.”

This year, the VAAM Workshop will take place from September 24 to 26, 2025, in Berlin. For more information, please visit: VAAM Workshop.

Anyone who completed their doctorate at a German university between July 2024 and July 2025 can apply, provided their research focused on microbial natural product research and involved the use of mass spectrometric methods.

Please send your application documents (curriculum vitae, list of publications, up to three selected publications, a one-page summary of your dissertation – preferably with reference to mass spectrometry – as well as 1–2 letters of reference, including at least one from your doctoral supervisor) as a single PDF document with the subject “Application Hendrik-Wolff-Preis 2025” by August 15, 2025 to Prof. Dr. Helge Bode (helge.bode@mpi-marburg.mpg.de).

All applicants will be informed of the outcome by the end of August. The winner will present their research results in a lecture on the evening of the VAAM Workshop and should, if possible, participate in the entire workshop.

With this prize, we want to keep Hendrik’s memory alive and support young scientists working in his field of research.

To this end, we have set up a donation account with the support of Goethe University:

Recipient: Goethe-Universität
Bank details:
IBAN:DE95 5005 0000 0001 0064 10
SWIFT/BIC: HELADEFF
Purpose: 3015030012 Hendrik Wolff Preis

Previous award winners:

Award winner 2024

Dr. Houchao Xu received the 2024 Hendrik Wolff Prize for his dissertation on the biosynthesis of terpenes, written in the working group of Prof. Dr. Jeroen Dickschat. He focused particularly on the complex mechanisms of terpene synthases. The award ceremony took place as part of the same-named symposium on 21 October 2024 at the University of Würzburg.
 

Award winner 2023

In 2023, Dr. Nadya Abbood received the Hendrik Wolff Prize for her dissertation on artificial docking domains, known as SYNZIPs, in Prof. Dr. Helge Bode's working group. Using these SYNZIPs, she was able to modify non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. These huge enzymes are responsible for the formation of many clinically used antibiotics and other active substances, and this method makes them much easier to modify, enabling the generation of large libraries of completely new peptides. The award ceremony took place as part of the “Biology of Bacterial Natural Product Producers” symposium of the VAAM specialist group from 20–22 September 2023 at Saarland University in Saarbrücken.
 

Award winner 2022

The inaugural Hendrik Wolff Prize was awarded in 2022 to Dr. Vincent Wiebach for his dissertation, completed in the research group of Prof. Dr. Roderich Süßmuth. The prize recognises his work on the biosynthesis and structural elucidation of antibiotics. During his studies, he discovered a new class of active peptide substances which he named lipolanthins. The award ceremony took place at the “Biology of bacterial natural product producers” symposium, organised by the VAAM specialist group, at TU Dortmund University from 7–9 September 2022.