Prof. Dr. Maike Frye, head of the Vascular Biology working group at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), will be awarded the Gábor Szász Prize of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (DGKL) tonight. The prize, which recognizes innovative contributions at the interface of science and diagnostic patient care, is presented at the MedLab Awards in Leipzig. Frye’s work on vascular biomedicine and the development of animal-free test systems marks a paradigm shift in laboratory medicine and exemplifies the 3R principles (Replace, Reduce, Refine).

As Germany’s first and only 3R professor since January 2024, Frye combines basic scientific expertise with clinical application. Her career includes a degree in molecular biomedicine in Münster and Sydney, a doctorate in 2013 at the Max Planck Institute in Münster and postdoc stations in Uppsala and Hamburg. Since 2018, she has been leading research projects on thromboinflammatory processes and hereditary vascular diseases at the UKE. Her list of publications impresses with articles in top journals such as Developmental Cell, Nature Communications and Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In her award-winning paper in Developmental Cell (PMID: 38159569), Frye reveals the selective role of cGMP-dependent phosphodiesterase 2A (PDE2A) in contact inhibition of lymphoid endothelial cells. By targeted deletion of Pde2a, she shows that PDE2A is essential for cell-cell contact, cell cycle arrest and valve formation in the lymphatic system – a new mechanism in crosstalk between cGMP, p38 and NOTCH signaling that opens up diagnostic and therapeutic perspectives for congenital lymphatic vessel diseases.

Another study (PMID: 39496698) establishes an image-based in vitro test system for the analysis of the thrombogenicity of bioresorbable coronary stents. This flow-through model quantifies platelet adhesion to materials such as magmaris stents and reduces thrombogenicity in newer generations, without animal testing – a step forward in line with the 3R principles.

As founding director of the Hamburg Center for 3R Research (HC3R), which opened in the summer of 2025, Frye is driving animal-free, diagnostically relevant procedures. In the MedLabPortal, she is presented as a visionary: “This alternative research approach offers a promising opportunity to be adapted for many other cell types in the human body. Although my research focus is on vascular biomedicine, I would like to bring the various research fields at the UKE closer together in the field of animal welfare and make them more transparent by researching interdisciplinary 3R approaches,” explains Frye. Hamburg’s Second Mayor Katharina Fegebank praises: “Progress in medicine and increased animal welfare must be thought of together. Therefore, it is important to promote and further develop alternative research methods.”

Frye’s commitment extends to the promotion of young talent: she teaches laboratory medicine and supported her colleague Dr. Claudia Carlantoni in the acquisition of a research project. The nomination by Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Renné states: “Like hardly any other person in our professional society, Ms. Frye combines scientific and diagnostic topics with strategic vision for the improvement of patient care.”

Experts see Frye’s approaches as a milestone for ethical, patient-centered research that minimizes animal experiments and improves diagnostics. The complete works are available under the mentioned PMIDs.

Read Also:

INTRODUCING: Maike Frye and the Three Rs – MedLabPortal

Further information:

MedLabAwards – MedLabPortal

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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