The director at Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine discovered that genes respond not only to chemical signals but also to the physical properties of their surroundings
Sara Wickström will be awarded the Körber European Science Prize 2026.
© Marcus Gloger/Körber-Stiftung
To the Point
- Sara Wickström has been awarded the €1 million Körber European Science Prize for discovering a mechanism by which cells sense the physical world around them.
- Her research showed how cells can “feel” forces such as pressure and stretching and relay these signals all the way to their DNA. In doing so, physical forces can switch genes on or off, helping determine how cells behave and how tissues develop, age, or heal after injury.
- The discovery opened a new field of research and could eventually lead to new ways of treating cancer, organ fibrosis and other conditions, many of which being age-related.
“Sara Wickström has changed the way we think about cells,” said Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Edvard Moser, Chair of the Körber Prize Committee for the Life Sciences. “Her work revealed how physics and biology come together inside living tissues and laid the groundwork for future advances in medicine.” With the €1 million prize funding, Wickström now plans to investigate how scarring in organs such as the skin, lungs and kidneys can be prevented or treated.
The mystery of cell regulation
Our cells are constantly exposed to physical forces. Skin stretches when we move, organs change shape as they grow, and tissues are exposed to injury. Yet for decades, scientists did not understand how cells sensed these forces or why they responded so differently. Why does one injury heal cleanly while another leaves a scar? Most researchers believed that cells were controlled mainly by their genes and by chemical signals from neighbouring cells. The role of physical forces remained largely unknown.
Wickström’s discoveries fundamentally changed this view. The breakthrough came in 2016, when she uncovered how physical forces are transmitted from the surface of a cell to its nucleus. There, they act on DNA and influence which genes are switched on and which are switched off.
The finding challenged a long-held view in biology. It showed that genes respond not only to chemical signals but also to the physical properties of their surroundings. Whether a tissue is stretched or compressed can influence how cells develop and what roles they take on. “I remember thinking: if this is true, then it’s something really, really new,” says Wickström.
From breakthrough to treatment
The discovery reaches far beyond basic research. Today, it is well established that physical forces influence almost every tissue in the body, from embryonic development and wound healing to the ageing process. Wickström showed that cells continuously “feel” their surroundings and adapt to them. Her work helped establish the field of nuclear mechanobiology – an entirely new field of research that asks how pressure, stretching and other physical forces shape the way cells behave.
These findings are particularly relevant for diseases known as fibrosis, in which tissues in organs such as the skin, lungs and kidneys become scarred. Although little known outside medicine, these diseases are among the major health challenges and contribute to a substantial share of deaths worldwide. The physical environment of cells also changes dramatically in cancer. Tumours stiffen the surrounding tissue, altering the behaviour of both cancer cells and immune cells. Wickström’s work opens up new possibilities for detecting such changes earlier and, ultimately, finding ways to intervene.
Using the Körber Prize funding, Wickström now plans to investigate whether cells retain a “memory” of injury and mechanical stress. Her hypothesis is that disease-related changes in tissue may leave lasting marks in the environment surrounding DNA, trapping cells in a harmful state long after the original injury has healed. She hopes to understand how such biological memories arise and whether they can be altered. In the long term, this could open up new ways of preventing harmful scarring, improving the healing of chronic wounds and protecting organs from progressive fibrosis.
About the laureate
Sara Wickström is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany, and Research Director at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki, Finland. Born in Finland in 1976, she studied medicine at the University of Helsinki, where she completed a MD/PhD programme, receiving her medical degree in 2001 and her PhD in 2004. After completing her doctoral studies, she conducted research at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, before establishing her own research group at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany, in 2010. Wickström became internationally recognised for her contributions to the emerging field of mechanobiology. She has received numerous international awards and was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2020.
The Körber Prize
Sara Wickström will receive the Körber European Science Prize on 18 September 2026 in the Grand Hall of Hamburg City Hall. With prize funding of €1 million, the Körber Prize ranks among the world’s most valuable awards for scientific research. The prize money must be used for research and science communication, with ten per cent available for personal purposes. Since 1985, the Körber-Stiftung has awarded the prize annually to recognise outstanding scientific breakthroughs in the physical or life sciences in Europe. The prize honours excellent, forward-looking research with strong potential for practical application. Eight Körber Prize laureates have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize.
The award ceremony also marks the culmination of the Hamburg Science Summit. Organised by the Körber-Stiftung and Hamburg’s Ministry of Science, the conference will bring together leading figures from science, politics, business and think tanks on 17 September to discuss the future of science and innovation in Europe.
