Meet the 5 Superstar Scientists Who Just Won the 'Oscars of Science' From Silicon Valley Tech Billionaires

Meet the 5 Superstar Scientists Who Just Won the 'Oscars of Science' From Silicon Valley Tech Billionaires December 5, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

The fifth year of Breakthrough Prizes were awarded to outstanding scientists in the areas of Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics last night. They were awarded by the prize’s founders, Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

The gala, held in Silicon Valley, was hosted by Morgan Freeman. Each of the Breakthrough Prizes is worth $3 million.

The five 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences winners were:

1. Stephen Elledge

Elledge is the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and Medicine in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and in the Division of Genetics at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is also an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He won the $3 million award for determining how eukaryotic cells sense and respond to DNA damage. This has significant implications in cancer research and development.

2. Harry Noller

Noller is the Director of the Center for Molecular Biology of RNA, Robert L. Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology and Professor Emeritus of MCD Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was awarded the prize for his work on how RNA is involved in ribosome activity, which is fundamental to protein synthesis.

3. Roeland Nusse

Nusse is a Professor of Developmental Biology at Stanford University and an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He was recognized for his research on the Wnt pathway, which is a vital intercellular signaling system in development, cancer and stem cell biology.

4. Yoshinori Ohsumi

Ohsumi is an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Ohsumi’s work focuses on autophagy, the recycling systems that cells utilize to create nutrients from their own inessential or damaged components.

5. Huda Yahya Zoghbi

Zoghbi is a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) at Texas Children’s Hospital. Zoghbi received the award for research into the genetic causes and biochemical mechanisms of spinocerebellar ataxia and Rett syndrome. This work had provided insight into the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative and neurological diseases.

At least part of the idea behind the Breakthrough Prize, according to STAT, “was to elevate scientists to the level of celebrities and actors in the eyes of the public.” As a result, the gala had numerous Hollywood stars in attendance, and Alicia Keys performed.

Yuri Milner, a billionaire venture capitalist, told STAT, “Compared to some other prizes, we’re doing very well. Compared to the Super Bowl, we have a long way to go.”

Milner and his wife fund the prize along with Facebook founder Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, and Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and 23andMe chief executive officer Anne Wojcicki.

When Roeland Nusse was told he had won the $3 million prize, he admitted he had nothing to wear, and rented a tuxedo. STAT asked him why he didn’t buy one, considering he just received $3 million. “I don’t see myself wearing a tuxedo too often,” he told STAT.

In an interview prior to the event, Milner told The Washington Post, “Everything you see around you and me in the world was conceived by scientists some time ago—everything that was built by us as a civilization.” But he added, “In our society, science is not appreciated enough. Intellectual achievement is recognized to a much smaller extent to physical achievement. I think, and my co-founders agree, this is really very much out of balance and we need to bring it more into balance.”

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