Their work is most frequently cited in publications of other scientists. Five researchers from the University of Würzburg are therefore again included in the Highly Cited Researchers 2020 List.
Once again the following five professors of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany, are on the list of Highly Cited Researchers: the medical scientist Hermann Einsele, the biophysicist Rainer Hedrich, the pathologist Andreas Rosenwald, Jörg Vogel, a specialist in RNA research and infection biology, and the chemist Frank Würthner.
The current Highly Cited List was established by Clarivate Analytics, a company specialising in citation data, and published on 18 November 2020. The analysis is based on the Web of Science database. For their 2020 assessment, the analysts looked at the time between 2009 and 2019.
Highly cited papers rank in the top one percent of most-cited publications in their field in the year of publication. Only such scholars who have co-authored multiple highly cited papers may join the ranks of "Highly Cited Researchers" comprising some 6,170 scientists worldwide in 2020.
Physicist among the Citation Laureates
In addition to the list of Highly Cited Researchers, Clarivate Analytics publishes the list of so-called "Citation Laureates" which are considered likely to win the Nobel Prize in their respective field. The Würzburg physicist, Laurens Molenkamp, has been on this list since 2014. To be eligible for the list, a scientist's published papers must be cited more than 1,000 times. Moreover, their work must concern a trail-blazing discovery or revolutionary progress which the analysts consider worthy of a Nobel Prize.
JMU President congratulates
JMU President Alfred Forchel congratulates the professors: "Highly Cited Researchers and Citation Laureates are internationally excellent in the natural and life sciences. It is particularly gratifying that our award-winning researchers have been continuously delivering this top performance for several years. At the same time, I would also like to point out top achievements in the humanities and social sciences at our university, as evidenced, for example, by the Leibniz Prizes for Ulrich Konrad and Dag Hasse. All in all, great results and further proof of the great international visibility of our university!"
Prof. Dr. Hermann Einsele
The head of the Chair of Internal Medicine II and director of the Medical Clinic and Polyclinic II is an expert in haematology, oncology, immunotherapy and infections in patients with a weakened immune system. He developed a cancer therapy based on specifically modified immune cells which he used in clinical practice for the first time in Europe. He was awarded among others 2003 the van Bekkum Award of the European Society for Cell and Stem Cell Therapy, 2012 the Nobel Lecture Stem Cell Biology/Transplantation, Nobel Forum Karolinska Institute Sweden. In 2014 he was accepted as a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, since 2015 he has been JMU Vice President. He is in charge of immunotherapy studies for many tumour diseases. Other focal areas of his work include stem cell transplantation to fight blood cancer and multiple myeloma as well as infectious diseases in immunodeficient patients.
Prof. Dr. Rainer Hedrich
The head of the Chair of Botany I - Molecular Plant Physiology and Biophysics is considered one of the fathers of researching electric signal transmission in plants. He has been included in the list of Highly Cited Researchers continuously since 2003.He was the first researcher worldwide to determine the functioning of plant ion channels in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Erwin Neher. Hedrich studies carnivorous plants within the scope of the "Carnivorom" project funded by the European Research Council. Among other things, he discovered that the Venus flytrap counts the number of times it is touched by its prey and only allows the trap to shut and digest after a sufficient number of stimuli. To find out how the plant counts, the German Research Foundation is funding Hedrich with the renowned Koselleck Research Award.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Rosenwald
The head of the Chair of General Pathology and Pathological Anatomy is an expert in the diagnosis of blood diseases. His research concentrates on the molecular genesis of tumours of the lymphatic system, including diffuse large B cell lymphomas, follicular lymphomas and mantle cell lymphomas. His team was able to contribute to the biological characterisation of molecular subgroups of these tumours for which different treatment options currently exist. Rosenwald is a co-author of the WHO classification of malignant lymphomas.
Prof. Dr. Jörg Vogel
The director of the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and director of the Institute of Molecular Infection Biology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Würzburg studies regulatory RNA molecules in bacterial pathogens such as salmonella. His team develops new methods based on high-throughput sequencing to detect RNA molecules in high resolution and to understand how they work. Winner of the 2017 Leibniz Prize, the biochemist is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) and of the European Molecular Biology Organization EMBO.
Prof. Dr. Frank Würthner
The head of the Chair of Organic Chemistry II and founding director of the JMU Center for Nanosystem Chemistry did fundamental research in supramolecular material chemistry. He developed supramolecular polymers and nano-materials based functional dyes for organic electronics and photovoltaics applications. Following successful research on converting sunlight to electricity, Würthner has also experimented with dye-based materials that use sunlight to produce fuels - since 2018 this research is funded by an ERC Advanced Grant. Würthner focuses on biomimetic concepts and synthetic nanosystems. The Society of German Chemists awarded him the Adolf von Baeyer Memorial Medal for his work on dye aggregates.
Prof. Dr. Laurens Molenkamp
The head of the Chair of Experimental Physics III discovered the quantum spin effect in 2007. Moreover, Molenkamp was the first scientist to implement the new material class of topological insulators in experiments. Since his breakthrough, intensive research has been conducted in this domain. Among others, Molenkamp won a EUR 2.5 million ERC Advanced Grant in 2011 and 2017, respectively, and the Leibniz Prize in 2014. In 2017, he received the Stern-Gerlach Medal, the most prestigious award of the German Physical Society.
