Robert Zeiser receives Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
Freiburg, 19/03/2025
The German Research Foundation (DFG) will award Freiburg cancer researcher Robert Zeiser the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize on 19 March 2025. The prize is regarded as Germany’s most important honour for research and is endowed with 2.5 million euros.
Prof. Dr. Robert Zeiser received the 2025 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in Berlin on 19 March 2025 from the German Research Foundation (DFG), in recognition of his outstanding research in haematology and immunology. Zeiser is a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg and research group leader at the University of Freiburg’s Medical Center. He and his team have been researching for years into how stem cell transplants can be made safer and more effective in cancer therapy.
“Improving patients’ quality of life”
“I am delighted about this honour and also the opportunities that the prize offers me”, says Zeiser. “With my work I want to make a real difference to improving cancer patients’ chances of survival and their quality of life.” The prize is regarded as Germany’s most important honour for research. Zeiser is one of ten winners this year. The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is endowed with 2.5 million euros, which the recipient may use for research work at their own discretion for up to seven years.
Prof. Dr. Robert Zeiser (48), a native of Freiburg, studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, Tel Aviv University in Israel and the University of South Florida in Tampa, USA. After a research stay at Stanford University, USA, Zeiser qualified as a university lecturer in 2010 and became a senior physician at the Department of Internal Medicine I at the University of Freiburg’s Medical Center. In 2013, he received a Heisenberg professorship and has headed the Department of Tumour Immunology since 2019.
“I am delighted about this honour and also the opportunities that the prize offers me. With my work I want to make a real difference to improving cancer patients’ chances of survival and their quality of life.“
Prof. Dr. Robert Zeiser
Around 300 publications
Over the past 20 years, Zeiser has contributed to around 300 scientific publications. He is a member of the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies at the University of Freiburg and, since 2021, spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB1479 OncoEscape at the University of Freiburg. Also in 2021, he received the German Cancer Prize from the German Cancer Society. Since 2023, he has been funded by an ERC Advanced Grant.
