Print“These scientists should be household names and heroes in society.”
A group of Internet titans have backed a new $3 million prize to recognize groundbreaking achievements in life sciences research and bestowed the new “Breakthrough Prize” to 11 inaugural recipients. The founders of the award say it is intended to advance research, celebrate scientists, and generate excitement about the life sciences so a new generation will pursue careers there.
Founding sponsors of the Breakthrough Prize include Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who is a physician; and venture capitalist Yuri Milner, who said they will fund five annual prizes of $3 million each.
Art Levinson, former CEO of Genentech and chairman of the Board of Apple, will serve as chairman of the not-for-profit Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, which will administer the prize. The Foundation’s directors include Wojcicki, Zuckerberg, and Milner. The 11 inaugural recipients have agreed to serve on a selection committee to determine future recipients of the prize.
Rather than fund groundbreaking research, the prize is intended to bring recognition to researchers who have made significant contributions through their work and to raise their public profiles in the hopes of changing the way a celebrity driven society values scientific work.
“These scientists should be household names and heroes in society,” says Wojcicki.
The 11 Inaugural winners include:
• Cori Bargmann, Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and Head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, for the genetics of neural circuits and behavior, and synaptic guidepost molecules.
• David Botstein, director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and professor of Genomics at Princeton University, for linkage mapping of Mendelian disease in humans using DNA polymorphisms.
• Lewis Cantley, professor and director of the Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, for the discovery of PI 3-Kinase and its role in cancer metabolism.
• Hans Clevers, professor of Molecular Genetics at Hubrecht Institute, for describing the role of Wnt signaling in tissue stem cells and cancer.
• Titia de Lange, professor, head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics, and director of the Anderson Center for Cancer Research at the Rockefeller University, for research on telomeres, illuminating how they protect chromosome ends and their role in genome instability in cancer.
• Napoleone Ferrara, distinguished professor of pathology and senior deputy director for Basic Sciences at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, for discoveries in the mechanisms of angiogenesis that led to therapies for cancer and eye diseases.
• Eric Lander, president and founding director of the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, professor of Biology at MIT, and professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, for the discovery of general principles for identifying human disease genes, and enabling their application to medicine through the creation and analysis of genetic, physical and sequence maps of the human genome.
• Charles Sawyers, chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for cancer genes and targeted therapy.
• Bert Vogelstein, director of the Ludwig Center and professor of Oncology and Pathology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, for cancer genomics and tumor suppressor genes.
• Robert A. Weinberg, professor for Cancer Research at MIT and Director of the MIT/Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, for characterization of human cancer genes.
• Shinya Yamanaka, director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University. Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes, for induced pluripotent stem cells.
“I believe this new prize will shine a light on the extraordinary achievements of the outstanding minds in the field of life sciences, enhance medical innovation, and ultimately become a platform for recognizing future discoveries,” Levinson says.
Founding sponsors of the Breakthrough Prize include Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who is a physician; and venture capitalist Yuri Milner, who said they will fund five annual prizes of $3 million each.
Art Levinson, former CEO of Genentech and chairman of the Board of Apple, will serve as chairman of the not-for-profit Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, which will administer the prize. The Foundation’s directors include Wojcicki, Zuckerberg, and Milner. The 11 inaugural recipients have agreed to serve on a selection committee to determine future recipients of the prize.
Rather than fund groundbreaking research, the prize is intended to bring recognition to researchers who have made significant contributions through their work and to raise their public profiles in the hopes of changing the way a celebrity driven society values scientific work.
“These scientists should be household names and heroes in society,” says Wojcicki.
The 11 Inaugural winners include:
• Cori Bargmann, Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and Head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, for the genetics of neural circuits and behavior, and synaptic guidepost molecules.
• David Botstein, director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and professor of Genomics at Princeton University, for linkage mapping of Mendelian disease in humans using DNA polymorphisms.
• Lewis Cantley, professor and director of the Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, for the discovery of PI 3-Kinase and its role in cancer metabolism.
• Hans Clevers, professor of Molecular Genetics at Hubrecht Institute, for describing the role of Wnt signaling in tissue stem cells and cancer.
• Titia de Lange, professor, head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics, and director of the Anderson Center for Cancer Research at the Rockefeller University, for research on telomeres, illuminating how they protect chromosome ends and their role in genome instability in cancer.
• Napoleone Ferrara, distinguished professor of pathology and senior deputy director for Basic Sciences at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, for discoveries in the mechanisms of angiogenesis that led to therapies for cancer and eye diseases.
• Eric Lander, president and founding director of the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, professor of Biology at MIT, and professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, for the discovery of general principles for identifying human disease genes, and enabling their application to medicine through the creation and analysis of genetic, physical and sequence maps of the human genome.
• Charles Sawyers, chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for cancer genes and targeted therapy.
• Bert Vogelstein, director of the Ludwig Center and professor of Oncology and Pathology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, for cancer genomics and tumor suppressor genes.
• Robert A. Weinberg, professor for Cancer Research at MIT and Director of the MIT/Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, for characterization of human cancer genes.
• Shinya Yamanaka, director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University. Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes, for induced pluripotent stem cells.
“I believe this new prize will shine a light on the extraordinary achievements of the outstanding minds in the field of life sciences, enhance medical innovation, and ultimately become a platform for recognizing future discoveries,” Levinson says.
February 22, 2013
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-new_3_million_breakthrough_prize_seeks_to_elevate_scientists.html
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