Joachim Spatz is appointed since 2000 as Professor for Biophysical Chemistry at the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg. From 2004-2015 he was also Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart and since 2016 he is Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research at Heidelberg.

In his research he focused on the interaction between cells and materials with particular interest in cell. Using artificially created interfaces with defined molecular structures and biophysical experiments he was able to identify specific molecular components responsible for cell adhesion. He won the prize for his interdisciplinary analytic and biophysical concepts to study communication between cells. One example is given by investigated novel insights of processes which guide collective cell migration during wound healing.

The award ceremony will take place on March 15th 2017 in Berlin.