Driven by an appetite for research
One of the very first National Jonk Fuerscher Contest laureates, Prof. Michel Goedert is now head of the division for neurobiology research at the University of Cambridge and a leader in ALS research.
A great journey that begins with the Jonk Fuerscher contest?
What an exceptional career that of Professor Michel Goedert. A great journey that begins with the Jonk Fuerscher contest?
Mr Goedert is a very busy man who responds immediately to our request for testimony from the first participants in the national competition.
The reason for this enthusiasm? This experience seemed to play an important role in Mr Goedert's career choices. By participating in the second edition of the competition in 1973, he was chosen to represent Luxembourg in London, which would be one of his first trips alone, outside the Grand Duchy.
Impressed by the program of activities orchestrated on site to welcome young people from the airport, the young Michel, then aged 19, will be led to participate in the “Young Science adventure” organized by Philips, which will lead him among other activities to visit the impressive London Science Museum.
Beyond the activities of discovery and meetings, his performance during the English competition will allow him to bring back a prize, a radio cassette player and a substantial sum of money for the time and a host of memories with him in Luxembourg.
In his suitcases, he will also bring back the taste of travel, and the conviction that this path was made for him, that he wanted to continue his studies in higher education with one objective in mind: research!
Des, 1973 he left Luxembourg despite some reluctance from his family who would have liked to see him stay and grow up in the country; to go to Switzerland to study medicine. During our interview, he admitted to preferring the challenge of research, the intense competition between researchers and laboratories to stay at the highest level and obtain the funds necessary to pursue important work, to a career as a doctor.
After completing his medical studies at the University of Basel in 1986, he began working at the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Medical Research Council affiliated with the University of Cambridge where he now works as head of the division for neurobiology research.
Goedert received the Metlife Foundation Prize for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease in 1996, the Potamkin Prize in 1998 and the European Grand Prize for Research from the Foundation for Research into Alzheimer's Disease in 2014. 2018, he is one of four recipients of the European Grete Lundbeck Brain Research Prize, in 2019, he received the Royal Medal and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation award for innovation in research on the neurodegenerative disorder. Most recently, he also received the "Hartwig Piepenbrock DZNE Prize" in 2022 for his ground-breaking research into the molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases.
Additionally, Mr Goedert is a member of Luxembourg University's Board of Governors.
He responds today with great pleasure to our calls to testify as an alumnus, acting as an ambassador of Heart and a source of inspiration for our budding researchers.
We hope you explore this list, draw inspiration from their journeys and share your story as a past competitor.
If you would like to nominate yourself or other alumna/us to be considered for the website, please email alumni@fjsl.lu with the subject line “Alumni Nomination”.
Please visit our Linkedin group Les amis de la fondation des jeunes scientifiques to share with some of our existing community and discover the next generation of innovators.