Radiology researcher receives Humboldt Foundation Sofja Kovalevskaja Award
Radiology researcher receives Humboldt Foundation Sofja Kovalevskaja Award
Dr. André Martins is one of this year's recipients of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. This award, one of the highest endowed science awards in Germany, honors talented early-career international researchers.It provides up to 1.65 million euros for a five-year research project and enables establishing an independent research group at a research institution in Germany.André Martins' team is interested in understanding relevant paradigms in human pathology and physiology through accurate non-invasive biomedical imaging. The team uses highly translational molecular and metabolic imaging approaches to determine the role of metabolism in various diseases.Martins' team is also working in the development of the next generation of non-invasive metabolic sensors for biomedical imaging, for example, biomarkers of metabolism in cancer senescence, diabetes, stroke or inflammation, and immunology.
With the funding of 1.65 million euros from the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, Martins plans to focus research on metabolic tumor heterogeneity. The tumor microenvironment is a heterogeneous space composed of different cells, metabolites, and molecules that can confer evolutionary advantages to the tumor. The aberrant metabolism of cancer cells leads to alterations in the local tumor microenvironment.