Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators

The Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators is intended to symbolize the close links between the company and the field of biomedicine. It was first established in 1995 on occasion of Eppendorf’s 50th anniversary. It acknowledges outstanding contributions of early career scientists to biomedical research in Europe based on laboratory methods of molecular, cellular, systems, or organismic biology, including novel analytical concepts.

About this Award

The Award is presented in partnership with the scientific journal Nature .

Prize money: 20,000 EUR

Additional benefits:

Comprehensive coverage of his/her work by Nature in print and online including a podcast
Prize Ceremony at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, including complimentary transportation and hotel accommodation.
Besides the grand prize winner the jury may appoint up to two finalists each year

Application period will open on October 1, 2026.

Winner 2026 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators

Congratulations to Dr. Martin Pačesa on winning the 2026 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators for his research on AI-guided de novo design of functional protein binders.

The jury members were excited by his outstanding research and acknowledged the importance of his contributions to this field and the impact of the tools that he had developed for the research community.

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Meet the Winners

Watch highlights and interviews from the ceremony at EMBL’s Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany.

Podcast: Building better protein binders

Listen to the podcast with Martin Pačesa about protein design, BindCraft, and medical applications.

Listen to the podcast

Meet the Finalists

2026 Award Finalist Dr. Sebastiaan De Schepper

Sebastiaan De Schepper is Group Leader at the VIB-Center for Molecular Neurology and Research Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. His research focuses on how peripheral immune systems shape vulnerability to neurodegenerative diseases through the gut-brain axis.

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2026 Award Finalist Dr. Tanita Wein

Born north of Hamburg, Tanita Wein first studied in Kiel before she went to the Weizmann Institute of Science. She is now principal Investigator for Systems Immunology at the Weizmann Institute. Her lab explores the origins and mechanisms of innate immunity by studying bacterial defense systems.

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General award information

About the award

Since 1995 the Eppendorf Young Investigator Award is granted annually to one early career scientist in Europe not older than 35 years at the time of entry...

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Entry details and judging procedures

Find out everything you need to know about the rules of eligibility, the procedure for entry and the jury process.

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All award winners and finalists

Discover all of our previous winners and finalists and their outstanding research.

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