Nicolas Thomä (credits: KEYSTONE / Christian Beutler)
April 26, 2022
Nicolas Thomä receives the Otto Naegeli Prize 2022
Nicolas Thomä, a research group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) in Basel, receives the Otto Naegeli Prize for Medical Research, one of the most prestigious scientific awards in Switzerland. Thomä is recognized for his groundbreaking work on targeted protein degradation, which contributes to advancing drug design.
From the outset of his career, structural biologist Nicolas Thomä has sought to understand the structure and function of protein complexes that ensure genome stability and maintenance, and often play a role in cancer.
A specific emphasis of Thomä’s research has been on small-molecule therapeutics that target disease-causing proteins for degradation. Thomä’s work has shown how some small molecules function as “molecular glues”, inducing interactions between a target protein and an enzyme that tags proteins for degradation. Such molecular glues have the potential to target proteins that were previously thought to be undruggable. Research from Thomä’s laboratory elucidated how the molecular glue thalidomide and its analogues function at the molecular level. To date, thalidomide derivatives are among the most successful drugs for several forms of blood cancers (learn more in the video below).
About the video: Structural biologist Nicolas Thomä talks about his fascination with proteins and his work on “molecular glues”.
Thomä’s research has also advanced the understanding of how proteins that are essential to turn genes on and off can bind the DNA molecule in the nucleus, where DNA is tightly packed around proteins and thus not easily accessible. In addition, the Thomä laboratory has made contributions to the field of DNA repair by revealing the mechanisms through which cells recognize a form of DNA damage induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV-induced DNA damage plays a key role in the development of skin cancer. For their studies, researchers from the Thomä group use a multidisciplinary approach that includes biochemistry and cryogenic electron microscopy, or cryo-EM.
Nicolas Thomä is the third FMI scientist to be honored with the Otto Naegeli Prize: senior group leader Silvia Arber received the prize in 2014, and Susan Gasser, senior group leader emerita and longtime director, received it in 2006.
The award ceremony will take place on June 14, 2022, at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel.
» FMI Medienmitteilung (auf Deutsch)
» FMI communiqué de presse (en français)
» Otto Naegeli Prize website
» Thomä group website
» Thomä's Ted-X Basel talk (2019)
Nicolas Thomä (credits: KEYSTONE / Christian Beutler)
About Nicolas Thomä
Born in Germany, Nicolas Thomä obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge, UK. After postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Germany, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, US, Thomä joined the FMI as a junior group leader in 2006. Since 2012, he has been a senior group leader at the FMI. During his career, Thomä received several awards, including three grants from the European Research Council, which support outstanding researchers. In 2012, he was honored with the Novartis Leading Scientist Award.
About the Otto Naegeli Prize
The Otto Naegeli Prize for Medical Research was established in 1960 in memory of Professor Otto Naegeli (1871-1938), distinguished scientist and lecturer of internal medicine at the University of Zurich. Worth 200,000 Swiss francs, the prize is awarded every two years to researchers in Switzerland with the aim of stimulating medical and biomedical research. It recognizes outstanding work on new biological mechanisms of action or therapeutic approaches. The Otto Naegeli Prize is considered one of the most prestigious scientific awards in Switzerland.
