Otto Warburg Medal 2026 for Maya Schuldiner

In recognition of her pioneering contributions to the understanding of protein targeting to organelles and the discovery of novel organelle contact sites, Prof. Maya Schuldiner has been awarded the Otto Warburg Medal 2026.

Prof. Maya Schuldiner is a leading molecular geneticist at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel). Her research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how eukaryotic cells organize, coordinate and transport their components. Using yeast as a central model organism, she has developed innovative systematic approaches to uncover the functions of previously uncharacterized proteins and to map mechanisms of intracellular communication.

A central focus of her work is the discovery and characterization of organelle contact sites. Schuldiner’s group identified the first contact sites between organelles that do not involve the endoplasmic reticulum, greatly expanding the known landscape of inter-organelle communication. Her studies elucidated the molecular tethers, regulatory mechanisms and transported molecules involved at these interfaces, reshaping the field’s understanding of cellular organization.

To better understand cellular processes at scale, Schuldiner pioneered powerful methodological innovations such as the SWAp‑Tag (SWAT) yeast strain library and MultiCLEM, a correlative light‑electron microscopy platform for high‑resolution phenotypic screening. These resources are now widely used by the cell biology community.

Prof. Schuldiner has received numerous prestigious honors, among them the EMBO Gold Medal, the FEBS Theodor Bücher Medal, the Jean Vance Prize and the Ira Herskowitz Award. She is a member of EMBO and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and her work has been supported by multiple European Research Council grants.

The Otto Warburg Medal is the most prestigious German award in biochemistry and molecular biology. Since 1963, it has recognized groundbreaking achievements that shape modern life sciences. The 2026 award has been presented during the 77th Mosbach Colloquium on 27 March 2026.