Of the eleven scientists just announced as winners of the new Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize, four of them have their labs within a block or two of each other in Manhattan: two at Rockefeller University, one at Weill Cornell Medical College, and one at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The prize, given to recognize past achievement in research aimed at curing disease and extending human life, comes with $3M to allow each of those researchers the freedom and flexibility to pursue even more groundbreaking work in the future. The founding sponsors of the prize are tech entrepreneurs Sergey Brin (Google) and Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Priscilla Chan, Art Levinson (Apple), and Yuri Milner (venture capitalist). The 11 winners this year will serve on the board to choose 5 winners each in subsequent years.
The 4 New York winners are:
- Cornelia ("Cori") Bargmann, Rockefeller University, Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior
- Titia de Lange, Rockefeller University, Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics
- Charles L. Sawyers, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis
- Lewis C. Cantley, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cancer Center Director
[Rockefeller research scientists Cori Bargmann (left) and Titia deLange (right), courtesy of Rockefeller University]
Dr. Bargmann is head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, where she studies the genetics of neural circuits and behavior and synaptic guidepost molecules in the nematode C. elegans. There are 22 members working in her lab. She is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Dr. de Lange is head of the Laboratory for Cell Biology and Genetics, where she does research on telomeres, illuminating how they protect chromosome ends and their role in genome instability in cancer. There are 17 members of her lab, which is funded by 3 NIH grants, plus support from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the American Cancer Society. She is also the director of the Anderson Center for Cancer Research.
Dr. Sawyers is chairman of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, where he studies the signaling pathways that drive the growth of cancer cells, with an eye toward designing new treatment options for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, prostate cancer, and glioblastoma. There are currently 21 members in his lab research group. He is also one of 6 new members recently appointed by the President to the National Cancer Advisory Board.
Dr. Cantley was recently appointed head of the new cancer center at Weill Cornell and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is best known for discovering PI 3-Kinase and its role in cancer metabolism. He is also on the faculty of the Harvard University Medical School, where he does research in systems biology. He is also a research participant in the Stand Up to Cancer initiative.
[Weill Cornell and the New York skyline, courtesy of Cornell University]
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus, life science research tradeshows nationwide for the past 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the best research campuses across the country. Twice annually we hold our popular Rockefeller BioResearch Product Faire™ events on the Rockefeller University Campus in New York City, with attendees coming from Weill Cornell and Memorial Sloan-Kettering as well.
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