Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR)

Benoît Pochon Prize

The Benoît Pochon Prize is awarded each year in recognition of a high-quality PhD or MD-PhD research thesis to a doctoral student who has successfully finished and defended her/his thesis in a research group of the Department for BioMedical Research. The prize is sponsored by the DBMR and the Department of Radio-Oncology, Inselspital. The award is endowed with CHF 1’000.- to be freely used by the awardee. 

2024 Benoît Pochon Prize

The call for nominations for the 2024 Benoît Pochon Prize is open until March 6.

Nomination

Eligible candidates must be nominated by DBMR Group Leaders. Complete nominations must include:

  1. Letter of nomination from the supervisor, stating why the candidate is deserving of this award
  2. CV and publication list of the candidate according to the template (available here)
  3. Thesis including its abstract

Nominations should be submitted as one single PDF document to awards.dbmr@unibe.ch by Thursday, March 6, 2025 . The subject line of the e-mail should read “2024 Benoît Pochon Prize Nomination”. Receipt will be confirmed by e-mail. Incomplete or non-compliant applications, or those received after the deadline will not be considered.

Eligible Candidates

An eligible candidate must fulfil the following criteria:

  • Conducted the doctoral research (PhD or MD-PhD) in a research group of the DBMR
  • Successfully completed the thesis in 2024

Selection Process

The jury will review all complete nominations based on the quality and productivity of the candidate’s research work. Their decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Award Announcement

The winner will be announced in the Day of BioMedical Research (July 2025) and will be featured in the Annual Report of the DBMR and on the DBMR Homepage.

CV and Publication List template

2023 Benoît Pochon Prize

At the DBMR Day of BioMedical Research on July 3 2024, PD. Dr. Michaela Medova announced the winner of the Benoît Pochon Prize 2023. The DBMR congratulates Dr. Martina Minoli, this year’s winner.

Read more about the winning PhD thesis of the 2023 Prize.

2022 Benoît Pochon Prize

At the DBMR Day of BioMedical Research on July 5 2023, PD. Dr. Michaela Medova announced Dr. Jana Remlinger as the winner of the Benoît Pochon Prize 2022 in recognition of her PhD thesis “Investigation of Antibody-driven Central Nervous System Autoimmunity with Focus on Involvement of the Visual Pathway”. The DBMR congratulates Dr. Remingler.

Read more about the winning PhD thesis of the 2022 Prize.

2021 Benoît Pochon Prize

At the event celebrating the new premises of the DBMR on March 2022, PD. Dr. Michaela Medova announced Dr. Noëlle Annick Dommann as the winner of the 2021 Benoît Pochon Prize for her PhD thesis “Unraveling proliferation by mapping origins of replication and the function of Ajuba”. The DBMR congratulates Dr. Dommann.

2020 Benoît Pochon Prize

At the outset of the May 3 2021 DBMR Research Conference, Prof. Dr. med. Daniel M. Aebersold announced the winners of the 2020 Benoît Pochon Prize. The prize went to Dr. med. Haitang Yang and Dr. Nicolas Melin. The DBMR congratulates the two winners.

2017 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Mai Moustafa Ahmed Abd El Hafez was the winner of the 2017 Benoît Pochon Prize for her PhD thesis “Role of complement and coagulation in Ischemia/Reperfusion injury”.

2016 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Byron Oppliger and Dr. Gaëlle Diserens were the winners of the 2016 Benoît Pochon Prize for their PhD thesis “Unraveling proliferation by mapping origins of replication and the function of Ajuba” and "In vivo and ex vivo investigations of ectopic lipids in renal and other tissues by magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy: Method establishment and first applications for determining disease biomarkers”.

2015 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Aline Schögler and Dr. Stefanie Seiler were the winners of the 2015 Benoît Pochon Prize for their PhD thesis: "Mechanisms and modulation of the antiviral response in the cystic fibrosis airway epithelium” and "The potential of Nogo-A neutralization as a novel treatment strategy for Parkinson’s disease”.

2014 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Sheida Moghadamrad was the winner of the 2014 Benoît Pochon Prize for the PhD thesis: “HEP-14-1526.R1 attenuated portal hypertension in germ-free mice: function of bacterial flora on the development of mesenteric lymphatic and blood vessels”.

2013 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Andreas Boss was the winner of the 2013 Benoît Pochon Prize for his PhD thesis “Application of multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the non-invasive investigation of skeletal muscle and liver metabolism”

2012 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. med Elisabeth Kieninger was the winner of the 2012 Benoît Pochon Prize for her PhD thesis "Clinical impact and pathophysiology of viral infections and early lung disease in cystic fibrosis“

2011 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Lei Zhuang was the winner of the 2011 Benoît Pochon Prize for her PhD thesis "Functional domains of the receptor FGFRL1“.

2010 Benoît Pochon Prize

Dr. Michaela Medova was the winner of the 2010 Benoît Pochon Prize for her PhD thesis "Evaluation of anti-MET small molecules in inhibition of tumor-associated angiogenesis and in sensitization of tumor cells to DAN damaging agents".