Otto-Thalhammer Preis 2015: Awarded to Karina Wegleiter

In 2015 Karina Wegleiter was awarded the Otto-Thalhammer-Price, provided by the Austrian Society for Pre- and Perinatal Medicine for her work on sigma-1 receptor agonists in neonatal brain injury.

The original article of our group was published in Experimental Neurology in 2014 and focused on the effect of the highly specific sigma-1 receptor agonist 4-phenyl-1-(4-phenylbutyl) piperidine (PPBP) on neonatal brain injury. We showed that PPBP reduced brain injury in vivo by suppression of microglial cell activation and mitochondrial membrane stabilization in vitro.

The price was bestowed within the yearly convention of the Austrian Society for Pre- and Perinatal Medicine in Vienna on the 28^th of February 2015. This year the price was shared with Dr. Katrin Klebermass-Schrehof from the Medical University of Vienna. The award enabels Karina Wegleiter to continue her research and represents a great honour for the whole team in Innsbruck, Austria.

Link:
The sigma-1 receptor agonist 4-phenyl-1-(4-phenylbutyl) piperidine (PPBP) protects against newborn excitotoxic brain injury by stabilizing the mitochondrial membrane potential in vitro and inhibiting microglial activation in vivo.
Wegleiter K, Hermann M, Posod A, Wechselberger K, Stanika RI, Obermair GJ, Kiechl-Kohlendorfer U, Urbanek M, Griesmaier E.
Exp Neurol. 2014 Nov;261:501-9. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2014.07.022. Epub 2014 Aug 8.