Press release 06/24/2021
The Bensheim-based Hetzler Foundation is awarding total funding of 200,000 euros to five outstanding scientists from Germany and the United States. The foundation aims to support projects in addiction research and prevention. The money is intended to serve as start-up funding for new approaches in addiction research. The scientific advisory board of the foundation, consisting of Prof. Dr. Tilo Grosser (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Prof. Dr. Rainer Spanagel (Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim) and Prof. Dr. Christoph Stein (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin), has selected five projects from 21 submitted applications which, according to the assessment of external reviewers, promise the greatest success.
Board spokesman Rutger Hetzler was surprised by the large number of applications: „With the Hetzler Foundation, we are only at the beginning of our activities and are still relatively unknown in the research world. We are all the more pleased with the high quality of the projects submitted.“
The chairman of the scientific advisory board, Dr. Tilo Grosser, emphasized the outstanding quality and broad scientific spectrum of the projects: „The aim of the Hetzler Foundation’s program is to give a boost to new, highly innovative research approaches and to promote networking among scientists from disciplines that do not traditionally work together on addiction research topics. In terms of content, this allows for a wide scope.“
The foci of the selected projects represent a broad scientific field: from the cellular neurobiology of addictive behavior, to the role of the microbiome and the gut-brain axis in addiction, to the genetics of drug effects studied in the fruit fly Drosophila, possible therapeutic effects of deep brain stimulation using microelectrodes, and the influence of social isolation during the pandemic. „All in all, very promising approaches that we are happy to support and promote „, emphasizes board spokesman Rutger Hetzler.
The Hetzler Foundation was founded in 2017 by the married couple Eva-Maria and Rutger Hetzler. It belongs to the Federal Association of German Foundations and is a member of the German Society for Addiction Research and Addiction Therapy e.V. (DG Addiction). The aim of the foundation is to annually allocate the income from the foundation’s assets to projects in addiction research that are worthy of support. To this end, the applications submitted are evaluated by external reviewers and the scientific advisory board and proposed for funding; the advisory board and the board of directors then decide on the final allocation of funds.
The foundation also supports regional addiction prevention and rehabilitation projects. Due to the Corona pandemic and the resulting contact restrictions, projects in this area have been cancelled or postponed. As of the middle of this year, the foundation expects an increasing number of fundable projects in prevention and rehabilitation.
The foundation will again support projects in research, prevention and rehabilitation in 2022. Applications for funding must be submitted to the Hetzler Foundation by August 31, 2021. More details can be found on the foundation’s homepage at www.hetzler-stiftung.de.
Press contact:
Rutger Hetzler, Hetzler Foundation, Hemsbergstr. 81, 64625 Bensheim, Germany
