Klaus Arnold Publication Prize

Prof. Dr. Klaus Arnold

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Biophysik
Foto Klaus Arnold
Prof. Dr. Klaus Arnold, 1942 - 2012

Dr. Klaus Arnold, who was head of the Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics from 1984 to 2007,  was one of Europe’s outstanding biophysicists. His name is linked to scientific achievements over many decades, with important contributions in Membrane Biophysics, Biophysics of Biological Tissues, NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectroscopy, to name just a few. He pioneered new techniques and experiments and conquered new fields of research for young biophysicists. Klaus Arnold was born in 1942 and passed away in January 2012.

Klaus Arnold Publication Prize

In honor of his contributions to the field of Biophysics, a group of Klaus Arnold’s friends have set up a fund to support the careers of young biophysicists (Ph.D. students and young postdoctoral researchers) in Germany. Beginning in 2012, a prize is awarded biannually by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Biophysik to the first author of an outstanding publication by a young scientist working in Germany. The prize comprises a 500 € award and a certificate presented at the National Meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Biophysik.

Applications with a short explanatory statement, the candidate’s CV and a reprint of the publication nominated for the Klaus Arnold Publication Prize should be submitted to

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Biophysik (DGfB) 
c/o Prof. Dr. Daniel Huster
Leipzig University
Medical Faculty
Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics
Härtelstr. 16-18
04107 Leipzig.

The deadline for sending in applications for the next prize to be awarded in 2022 will be announced.

Prize Winners

Prize Winner 2012

Dr. Airat Gubaev
Work group: Prof. Dr. Dagmar Klostermeier
Institute for Physical Chemistry
University of Münster
Gubaev A, Klostermeier D. DNA-induced narrowing of the gyrase N-gate coordinates T-segment capture and strand passage. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2011; 108:14085-90.

Prize Winner 2014

Dr. Jana Bröcker
Work Group: Prof. Dr. Sandro Keller
Molecular Biophysics
Technical University of Kaiserslautern
Broecker J,Fiedler S, Gimpl K, Keller S. Polar interactions trump hydrophobicity in stabilizing the self-inserting membrane protein Mistic. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014; 136:13761-13768.

Prize Winner 2016

Dr. Stephan Wilmes
Work Group: Prof. Dr. Jacob Piehler
Department of Biology, Division of Biophysics
University of Osnabrück
Wilmes S, Beutel O, Li Z, Francois-Newton, V, Richter CP, Janning D, Kroll C, Hanhart P, Hötte K, You C, Uzé G, Pellegrini S, Piehler J. Receptor dimerization dynamics as a regulatory valve for plasticity of type I interferon signaling. J. Cell Biol. 2015; 4:579-503.

Prize Winner 2018

Dr. Marie Luise Grünbein
Work Group: Prof. Dr. Ilme Schlichting
Molecular Biophysics
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research,

Grünbein, M.Luise, Bielecki, J., Gorel, A., Stricker, M., Bean, R., Cammarata, M., Dörner, K., Fröhlich, L., Hartmann, E., Hauf, S., Hilpert, M., Kim, Y., Kloos, M., Letrun, R., Messerschmidt, M., Mills, G., Nass Kovacs, G., Ramilli, M., Roome, C.M., Sato, T., Scholz, M., Sliwa, M., Sztuk-Dambietz, J., Weik, M., Weinhausen, B., Al-Qudami, N., Boukhelef, D., Brockhauser, S., Ehsan, W., Emons, M., Esenov, S., Fangohr, H., Kaukher, A., Kluyver, T., Lederer, M., Maia, L., Manetti, M., Michelat, T., Münnich, A., Pallas, F., Palmer, G., Previtali, G., Raab, N., Silenzi, A., Szuba, J., Venkatesan, S., Wrona, K., Zhu, J., Doak, R.Bruce, Shoeman, R.L., Foucar, L., Colletier, J.-P., Mancuso, A.P., Barends, T.R. M., Stan, C.A., Schlichting, I. Megahertz data collection from protein microcrystals at an X-ray free-electron laser. Nat Commun 9(1) (2018) 3487.