Kristina Lorenz Receives Award for Active Substance Against Heart Failure

Prof Dr Kristina Lorenz received the PhOENIX Pharmacy Science Award in the category »Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy«.

Cardiovascular Pharmacology Research Group

Prof Dr Kristina Lorenz T: +49 (0)231 1392-103 E: kristina.lorenz@isas.de

“The commendable feature of this research is that Professor Lorenz was able to override the pathological effect of a signalling protein with a peptide agent,” said Prof Dr Peter Ruth, jury member for the PHOENIX Pharmacy Science Prize, explaining the rationale for the award in November 2021.

Lorenz and her interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg and ISAS have succeeded in experimentally inhibiting the pathological growth of the heart to the point of cardiac insufficiency by means of a peptide substance. For this, the pharmacologist, who heads the Translational Research department at ISAS, received the 10,000 Euro prize in the »Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy« category. “We hope that the peptide compound will enable us to lay the foundation for a new therapy for heart failure with few side effects,” Lorenz said after the award ceremony. In addition, there are indications that the peptide may also be useful in the therapy of tumour diseases and genetic diseases in which this signalling pathway plays a role.