The synergistic effects involved in the action of natural products are key for their medicinal use. Research on these actions has been revolutionized in the past decades by methods quantifying synergy and by genomics techniques. The GA synergy award is aiming to create awareness for research on these effects, by awarding excellent research in the field.
The award, at present connected to a price sum of 1000 €, will be handed over within the frame of the annual GA congress, as the other GA awards, with a short lecture on the work.
Your submission (including publications or graduation theses, a letter explaining the relevance for the field, and a CV) is welcome. Please send it by email to Cornelia Kern (events@ga-online.org).
The jury consists of experts in the field and the president and the vice presidents of GA. The jury may invite further subject matter experts for the evaluation of the submissions. Each jury member independently will rate each work according to the three categories scientific excellence, relevance for the field and quality of the methodology and presentation. Based on this, the winner will be chosen in the frame of an online meeting of the jury.
List of Award Winners
2026
Dr. Priyanka Uniyal
A second GA Synergy Award was presented to Uniyal for her work “Synergistic combinatorial anticancer potential of Tamoxifen with Naringin and Diosmetin in MCF-7 breast cancer cells and their liposomal delivery”.
Priyanka Uniyal is a PhD scholar working in the field of natural product–based drug discovery with a focus on synergistic combination therapies for breast cancer. Her research integrates natural flavonoids, quantitative synergy analysis (Chou–Talalay method), and nanocarrier drug delivery systems such as liposomes to enhance the efficacy of endocrine therapies. She also applies computational approaches including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and network pharmacology to investigate multi-target mechanisms of phytochemicals in cancer therapy.
2026
Dr. Johannes-Paul Fladerer-Grollitsch
This year’s Synergy Award was presented to Dr. Flyderer-Grollitsch for his work “SMS: A New Screening Method for Synergism”.
“SMS: A New Screening Method for Synergism” is highly relevant for research on synergistic activity in medicinal plant and natural product science because it addresses a fundamental methodological limitation in the field. By enabling efficient, scalable, and chemically interpretable analysis of multi-component interactions, SMS provides a powerful tool for advancing our understanding of synergy in complex natural systems. Its combination of methodological innovation, phytochemical resolution, experimental efficiency, and translational applicability makes it a significant contribution to the field and directly aligned with the objectives of the GA Synergy Award.
2024
Dr. Andreas Bender
The second GA synergy award, in 2024, has been awarded to emphasize the importance, and synergy, between computational and experimental methods in the field.
The awardee, Prof. Andreas Bender from the University of Cambridge, and CITO of Pangea Bio, contributed to a better understanding of characteristics and limitations of current widely used synergy metrics, as well as, in particular, the interplay between network biology, predictive modelling, and experimental validation, with an emphasis on natural products and those from plant medicines. He presented his research at the International Congress on Natural Products Research in Krakow, Poland, which was held from 13-17 July 2024.
2023
Dr. Stephanie Leigh-de Rapper
The first GA synergy award, inaugurated in 2023, is aiming to create awareness for the exciting research on methods to prove the synergistic effects of the multiple components making up natural products.
The awardee, Dr. Stephanie Leigh-de Rapper from the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed in an exemplary way to the development of this field with her studies on the synergies of essential oils, which culminated in the development of a formulated essential oil product demonstrating enhanced antimicrobial efficacy. She presented her research in a lecture at the 71. GA Congress, which was hosted by Dr. Gaia Scalabrino and Prof. Dr. Helen Sheridan at Trinity College Dublin´s NatPro Centre from July 2-7, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland.
