Anja Ramsperger receives the Paul Crutzen Prize

The question of what effects microplastics have on our environment is very much in the public eye. With the advancing clarification of entry pathways and research into the accumulation of microplastics at certain points in the environment, the effect on living organisms and, above all, on human health is also being asked time and again. An important factor in estimating the health risk is the interaction of micrometer-sized particles with cells and the probability of their uptake into cells.

This is where Anja Ramsperger's innovative work comes in. In particular, she has examined the properties of the surface of the microplastic particles and investigated these properties in connection with the microplastic-cell interaction. Together with colleagues from various disciplines in the Collaborative Research Center Microplastics, she was able to show for the first time that formally identical plastic particles from different manufacturers differ considerably in their surface properties, which could explain the different results of the actually formally “identical” materials in cell studies.

“It is a great pleasure and honor for me to receive the Paul Crutzen Prize 2024 for our publication within the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre Microplastics,” says Dr. Ramsperger. “From the idea for the study to its publication, I worked intensively with colleagues from various disciplines over several years. Receiving the award emphasizes how important our research work is and that it is worthwhile to work intensively on an issue over several years.”

The GDCh Division of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology has been awarding a prize for an outstanding scientific publication by young scientists in the field of environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology since 2000. The prize was named after Paul J. Crutzen in 2011, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for his work on research into the ozone hole. Since 2023, Bayer AG has donated the prize money of 1,000 euros. This year there were two prizewinners who shared the prize money.