Fatima Ferreira Elected "Scientist of the Year 2008" (Jan. 2009)

The allergologist Fatima Ferreira, director of the Christian Doppler Laboratory of Allergy Diagnosis and Research at the University of Salzburg, has been elected "Scientist of the Year 2008". Fatima Ferreira belongs to Biomay´s most important scientific partners. In cooperation with the company, she was involved in the worldwide first development of an artificial allergen (recombinant birch pollen allergen Bet v 1). Biomay is the industrial partner of the Christian Doppler Laboratory.

Fatima Ferreira was born in Brazil and came to Austria almost 20 years ago. Meanwhile, she is internationally amongst the most excellent allergy researchers. Her research topic is the treatment of pollen allergies (e.g. birch, ragweed, mugwort) and the development of innovative allergy vaccines. For Ferreira, the award is "the confirmation that I am here at the right place and that I am doing the right things. I am also very glad of my connection to Biomay, because in this cooperation I have intellectual freedom, which guarantees the scientific quality of my work."

"Foremost, we are very happy for Fatima and her team, to receive Austria´s most renowned scientific award," notes Max Bayerl, CEO of Biomay. "We are proud of our cooperation partner and we appreciate her excellent scientific work and her public perception. For Biomay, this is further proof that we are collaborating with the best allergy scientists. This award also demonstrates the importance of allergy research in general and the need for innovative treatments."

Johannes Hahn, Federal Minister for Science and Research stated during the ceremony, that "above all, this election is an impressive proof of the growing importance of women in world-class research." The title is awarded yearly by the Austrian Club of Literacy and Science Journalists. In the past years, the laureates were Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler (literary scientist, 2007), Konrad Paul Liessmann (philosopher, 2006), Helga Kromp-Kolb (climate researcher, 2005), Rudolf Taschner (mathematician, 2004), Josef Penninger (immunologist, 2003) and Renee Schroeder (microbiologist, 2002).

(Vienna, January 8, 2009)