"Fritz Benseler is the head of the 'AGCT Lab' at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine. Fritz and his team perform essential functions for our institute, including genotyping, DNA sequencing, and synthesizing PCR primers. Our research into nervous system function and brain diseases would be impossible without the support of the AGCT Lab. Fritz goes out of his way to provide expert advice and is also the lab manager of our department, coordinating lab purchases and even making sure that the coffee machine is well-stocked with beans. It has been my pleasure to work with someone as helpful, creative and knowledgeable as Fritz.

While Fritz’s normal duties are exceptional, his extra efforts throughout the pandemic have been truly heroic. In spring 2020, realizing the critical importance of rapid testing for COVID-19, Fritz established a new high-throughput PCR-based COVID-19 testing protocol. This was initially used to test institute staff. Fritz soon expanded this project, leading to the establishment of a campus-wide COVID-19 screen, testing staff and students of the Göttingen University campus. Over a seven-month period until June 2021, Fritz and his lab performed approximately 50,000 PCR tests, keeping students and staff safe while the university established its own testing infrastructure, in consultation with Fritz. Early on, Fritz had also realised the limitations of standard COVID-19 testing procedures, which relied on reagents and machines that were in short supply. Thus, Fritz established and validated novel procedures for saliva sampling and the construction of a ‘high-throughput’, ‘pooled’ multiplex PCR procedure (described here, in German: https://analyticalscience.wiley.com/do/10.1002/was.000600144/full/). Through Fritz’s work, staff and students were protected, and our scientific work continued almost uninterrupted. Fritz’s lab is still performing regular COVID-19 tests for our institute.

These tasks took up much of Fritz’s personal time as he established the testing procedures in addition to his regular duties. This project has been a team effort, as Fritz himself is quick to point out when he is praised for this work. Nevertheless, as team leader Fritz guided his team and ensured that the project would be successful. Fritz’s efforts have also been praised by the president of the university and the mayor of Göttingen.

In summary, over the last 20 months, Fritz has done exemplary work for his colleagues and local community. His expertise, tireless work and selflessness in service of public health should be recognized and rewarded, and I am therefore nominating Fritz for this award."

James Daniel, Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Germany

Nomination Category: Lab Supporter

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