Rolf Luft Award

Rolf Luft Foundation for Diabetes Research and Karolinska Institutet give yearly, in memory of Rolf Luft, a prize for outstanding research in diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism. Awardees will receive the Rolf Luft Medal, a Diploma, an Honorarium and deliver a Lecture on their research.

Nominations

The Rolf Luft Foundation invites nominations for the 2025 Rolf Luft Award in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism research. 
The Prize ceremony will take place at Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet, followed by a Prize lecture on his/her research to an audience of basic and clinical researchers and clinicians. The setting will be a half day symposium. 
 
The nomination should, in one single PDF file include: a short CV (max five pages without ref.), a list of the nominee’s ten most important publications and a short description of the nominee’s contributions to science and health (no more than one page or 500 words). 

In addition, a CV with a complete list of all publications should be sent as a separate PDF file.  
The deadline for the nominations is September 30, 2024. Nominations should be submitted electronically to luftaward@rolfluftdiabetesfond.se.

Documents

The Rolf Luft Award Medal

Recipients of Rolf Luft Award

2024

Professor Frances Ashcroft, University of Oxford, England

2022

Professor Roger D. Cone, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, USA

Prize lecture: The Remarkable Biology of the Melanocortin Peptides

2020

Dr Franz Matschinsky, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia

Prize lecture: Glucokinase: Glucose Sensor, Disease Gene and Drug Receptor

In Memoriam of Professor Franz M. Matschinsky 1931-2022

2019

Professor Mitchell Lazar, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Prize lecture: Nuclear Receptors, Circadian Rhythms, and Metabolism.

2018

Professor Rudolf Zechner, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria

Prize lecture: FAT FISSION - The breakdown of cellular lipid stores in health and disease.

2017

Professor Daniel Drucker, Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto Canada

Prize Lecture: Unravelling novel actions of gut peptides-biological mechanisms and therapeutic implications

2016

Professor Michael S. Brown and Professor Joseph L. Goldstein, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA

Prize Lecture: Scap: Cholesterol Sensor and Lipid Regulator

2015

Professor Andrew Hattersley, University of Exeter Medical School, Devon, UK

Prize Lecture: From base change to better care in diabetes

2014

Professor Roger H. Unger, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA

Prize Lecture: A New Biology for Diabetes (Type 1 and 2)

2013

Professor Se-Jin Lee, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

Prize Lecture: Myostatin: A Molecular Rheostat for Muscle Mass

2012

Professor David John Mangelsdorf, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas

Prize Lecture: Nuclear Receptor Regulation of Nutrient Metabolism: From Worms to Humans.

2011

Professor Jeffrey Scott Flier, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

Prize Lecture: Hormone resistance in diabetes and obesity: insulin, leptin and FGF21.

2009

Professor Lewis C. Cantley, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

Prize Lecture: PI 3-Kinase and glucose metabolism

2008

Professor Grahame Hardie, FRSE FMedSci, University of Dundee, UK

Prize lecture: AMPK: a key sensor of cellular energy status and a potential drug target in obesity, diabetes and cancer.

2007

Professor Wylie Vale, Helen McLoraine chair professor of molecular neurobiology at the Salk Institute in the USA

Prize lecture: The CRF/urocortin network of neuropeptides and receptors: bridging stress and metabolism

2006

Professor Sir Philip Cohen, MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee, UK

Prize lecture: From insulin signalling to the regulation of cytokine production by pathogens

2005

Professor Stephen O´Rahilly, Cambridge University, UK

Prize lecture: Insights into human metabolism from the study of extreme phenotypes

2003

Professor Bruce Spiegelman, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA

Prize lecture: Transcriptional Control of Energy Metabolism

2001

Professor C Ronald Kahn, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, USA

Prize lecture: Insulin Action in "Insulin Insensitive" Tissues - Role in Diabetes

2000

Professor Jeffrey Friedman, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, the Rockefeller University, New York, USA

Prize lecture: Leptin, Obesity and the Hormonal Control of Body Weight

The history of the award

Professors Rolf Luft and Kerstin Brismar founded the Rolf Luft Foundation for Diabetes Research in 2004 with the aim of supporting diabetes research and awarding internationally recognized top researchers. The award committee has consisted of some previous award recipients plus members of the board of the Rolf Luft Foundation. The prize has gained a high scientific status as it has been given to very prominent researchers within the field of diabetes and metabolism. It is currently the only independent award given in this field. The prize is awarded in honor of Rolf Luft's memory.

Since 2000, Karolinska Institutet has been supporting, via a fund, to the medal, diploma and expenses in connection with the invitation of the prize winner and the prize lecture. Since 2005, the Rolf Luft Foundation has contributed with the selection of prize winners, prize money and the arrangement of the prize ceremony and the prize lecture.

Professor Rolf Luft, 1914-2007

Biographical information

KB
Content reviewer:
Lilian Pagrot
15-01-2024