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At the 65th Congress of the German Respiratory Society (DGP) in Leipzig, the 2025 DGP Research Awards were presented on April 10, 2025. Both awards went to researchers from the German Center for Lung Research (DZL).
The DGP Research Award for Experimental Medicine, endowed with €10,000, was presented to DZL scientist Dr. Lin Yang, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Lung Health and Immunity (LHI) and Precision Regenerative Medicine (PRM) at Helmholtz Munich (DZL site CPC-M). Dr. Yang was recognized for his foundational work in the development of LungVis 1.0, an advanced tech platform for preclinical analysis of pulmonary drug distribution.
“With this impressive achievement, Dr. Lin Yang not only provides important new insights for effective drug management but also lays the groundwork for innovative representations of the entire lung system,” emphasized DGP President Prof. Wolfram Windisch in his laudation.
LungVis 1.0 combines artificial intelligence with advanced imaging techniques, providing, according to Yang, “unprecedented insights into pulmonary drug delivery and cellular mechanisms in preclinical animal models.” In a mouse model, Yang and his team used fluorescent particles to segment the airways and investigate the distribution of certain cell types across different lung regions.
“With ‘LungVis,’ we can determine how much drug dose reaches which regions of the lungs. This is crucial for ensuring that the therapy works correctly, depending on the disease, as the origin of the disease may lie in different lung regions,” explained Yang.
The platform will continue to be developed and made available as open-source to the research community. “My vision is to provide a complete ‘LungVis’ ecosystem in the near future, enabling us to comprehensively represent and analyze the entire lung ecosystem, including the airways, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels,” Yang said.
Prof. Antje Prasse from the DGP Board praised his achievement: “Dr. Lin Yang is a shining example of scientific excellence and proof that outstanding research is the key to the future of medicine.”
The DGP Research Award for Clinical Medicine, also endowed with €10,000, was awarded jointly this year to two DZL researchers: Dr. Judith Brock from the Thorax Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital and Privatdozent Dr. Mustafa Abdo, who conducted the submitted studies at the LungClinic Grosshansdorf and has recently also been working at the Thorax Clinic in Heidelberg.
Brock investigated, in a retrospective study involving over 500 patients with severe COPD, how the risk of pneumothorax after endobronchial valve implantation can be better assessed. It was found that the risk depends, among other factors, on the location and size of the treated lung lobe.
“While some patients benefit from valve implantation despite developing pneumothorax, others are significantly impaired after lung collapse. Therefore, we wanted to understand: What are the differences in the severity of pneumothorax, and how do these affect clinical practice?” Brock explained. The study was published in the journal Chest in November 2024.
Dr. Abdo received the award for two studies that examined different clinical subgroups of COPD patients. In one study, his team analyzed two forms of heart impairment – HFpEF and a COPD-specific limitation in blood return to the heart – both of which are associated with an increased risk of mortality. “We found that targeted management of these different heart issues could improve the life expectancy of these COPD patients,” Abdo summarized.
In another study, Abdo, together with his DZL colleague Dr. Frauke Pedersen, investigated the inflammatory marker Interleukin-33 in the sputum of asthma and COPD patients. Particularly noteworthy: Former smokers with COPD had significantly higher IL-33 concentrations than active smokers. “Former smokers could particularly benefit from a therapy targeting Interleukin-33,” Abdo said.
Both studies were published in renowned journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the European Respiratory Journal.
Prof. Alexandra Preisser, on behalf of the jury, praised the significance of the work: “This year’s awardees have made a significant contribution to pulmonary science and have impressively shown how scientific knowledge can be translated into clinical practice.”
Dr. Lin Yang, Dr. Judith Brock, and PD Dr. Mustafa Abdo with DGP Vice President Prof. Dr. Christian Taube and DGP President Prof. Dr. Wolfram Windisch. Photos: DGP.
Further links to the DGP press releases:
