M. Karas received several scientific awards for the development of the MALDI technique (together with Franz Hillenkamp) : the Mattauch-Herzog award of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Massenspektrometrie(today DGMS) (1990), the award of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) for "A distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry" (1997), the "Molecular Bioanalytics" award from the GBM (german society for biochemistry and molecular biology) (2000), the ABRF (Association of Biochemical Research Facilities) award for "Recognition of the outstanding contribution to biomolecular technologies" (2003), the Fresenius Award of the GDCh (2003), the Karl-Heinz Beckurts Award (2003), the Torbern Bergman Medal of the Swedish Chemical Society (Analytical Devision) (2006) and the Thomson Medal of the International Mass Spectrometry Society (2006).