At the annual meeting of the German Pharmaceutical Society (DPhG), held in Regensburg in September 2026, our postdoctoral researcher Dr. Judith Alenfelder (Linkedin) received the Carl Wilhelm Scheele Prize (DPhG) in recognition of her outstanding doctoral thesis (bonndoc) in the pharmaceutical sciences.

Conducted at our institute, her research laid the foundation for a chemogenetic two-component system for the targeted control of heterotrimeric G proteins. To this end, Judith Alenfelder developed FR900359-resistant variants of Gq proteins from Drosophila melanogaster. The underlying concept is to protect the Gq signaling pathway from FR, paving the way for the future use of FR to selectively switch off G proteins from other families.

The Carl Wilhelm Scheele Prize recognizes outstanding scientific achievements in doctoral research. It is named after the German-Swedish pharmacist and chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786).

We are delighted that Judith’s research has received this recognition and warmly congratulate her on this well-deserved award.