Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
Encyclopedia
The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes
awarded by the Lasker Foundation for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of disease. The award frequently precedes a Nobel Prize in Medicine
: almost 50% of the winners have gone on to win one.
Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary...
awarded by the Lasker Foundation for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of disease. The award frequently precedes a Nobel Prize in Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
: almost 50% of the winners have gone on to win one.
List of Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Recipients
- 1946 Carl Ferdinand CoriCarl Ferdinand CoriCarl Ferdinand Cori was a Czech biochemist and pharmacologist born in Prague who, together with his wife Gerty Cori and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, received a Nobel Prize in 1947 for their discovery of how glycogen – a derivative of glucose – is broken down and...
- 1947 Oswald T. Avery, Thomas Francis, Jr.Thomas Francis, Jr.Thomas Francis, Jr. was an American physician, virologist, and epidemiologist. Francis was the first person to isolate influenza virus in America, and in 1940 showed that there are other strains of influenza, and took part in the development of influenza vaccines.- Life and achievements :Francis...
, Homer SmithHomer SmithDr Homer William Smith was an American physiologist and an advocate for science. His research work focused on the kidney and he discovered inulin at the same time as A.N. Richards. Dr... - 1948 Vincent du VigneaudVincent du VigneaudVincent du Vigneaud was an American biochemist. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1955 for the isolation, structural identification, and total synthesis of the cyclic peptide, oxytocin.-Biography:...
, Selman WaksmanSelman WaksmanSelman Abraham Waksman was an American biochemist and microbiologist whose research into organic substances—largely into organisms that live in soil—and their decomposition promoted the discovery of Streptomycin, and several other antibiotics...
, René J. Dubos - 1949 André Cournand, William S. Tillett, L. Royal Christensen
- 1950 George Wells Beadle
- 1951 Karl F. Meyer
- 1952 Sir Frank Macfarlane BurnetFrank Macfarlane BurnetSir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, , usually known as Macfarlane or Mac Burnet, was an Australian virologist best known for his contributions to immunology....
- 1953 Hans A. Krebs, Michael HeidelbergerMichael HeidelbergerMichael Heidelberger was an American immunologist who is regarded as the father of modern immunology. He and Oswald Avery showed that the polysaccharides of pneumococcus are antigens, enabling him to show that antibodies are proteins...
, George WaldGeorge WaldGeorge Wald was an American scientist who is best known for his work with pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit.- Research :... - 1954 Edwin B. AstwoodEdwin B. AstwoodDr. Edwin Bennett Astwood was a Bermudian-American physiologist and endocrinologist, his research on endocrine system led to treatments for hyperthyroidism. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1949.-References:*Cooper, D. Y. Astwood, Edwin Bennett. American...
, John Franklin EndersJohn Franklin EndersJohn Franklin Enders was an American medical scientist and Nobel laureate. Enders had been called "The Father of Modern Vaccines."-Life:...
, Albert Szent-GyörgyiAlbert Szent-GyörgyiAlbert Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt was a Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle... - 1955 Karl Paul LinkKarl Paul LinkKarl Paul Gerhard Link was an American biochemist best known for his discovery of the anticoagulant warfarin.-Training and early career:...
, Carl J. WiggersCarl J. WiggersCarl J. Wiggers was an eminent cardiovascular physiologist and was the 21st president of the American Physiological Society. He is the author of the Wiggers diagram, a diagram commonly used in the teaching of cardiovascular physiology... - 1956 Karl Meyer, Francis O. SchmittFrancis O. SchmittFrancis O. Schmitt was an American biologist and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Schmitt received an A.B. in 1924 and a Ph.D. in 1927 from Washington University in St. Louis...
- 1957 Isaac StarrIsaac StarrIsaac "Ike" Starr was an American physician and heart disease specialist notable for developing the first practical ballistocardiograph...
- 1958 Peyton Rous, Theodore PuckTheodore PuckTheodore Puck was an American geneticist born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Chicago public schools and obtained his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree from the University of Chicago...
, Alfred D. Hershey, Gerhard Schramm, Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, Irvine H. Page - 1959 Albert CoonsAlbert CoonsAlbert Hewett Coons, M.D. was an American physician, pathologist, and immunologist. He was the first person to conceptualize and develop immunofluorescent techniques for labeling antibodies in the early 1940s....
, Jules Freund - 1960 M.H.F. Wilkins, F.H.C. Crick, James D. WatsonJames D. WatsonJames Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
, James V. NeelJames V. NeelJames Van Gundia Neel was an American geneticist who played a key role in the development of human genetics as a field of research in the United States. He made important contributions to the emergence of genetic epidemiology and pursued an understanding of the influence of environment on genes...
, L.S. Penrose, Ernst RuskaErnst RuskaErnst August Friedrich Ruska was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for his work in electron optics, including the design of the first electron microscope.Ruska was born in Heidelberg...
, James HillierJames HillierJames Hillier, was a Canadian-born scientist and inventor who designed and built, with Albert Prebus, the first successful high-resolution electron microscope in North America in 1938.... - 1962 Choh H. Li
- 1963 Lyman C. Craig
- 1964 Renato DulbeccoRenato DulbeccoRenato Dulbecco is an Italian virologist who won a 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on reverse transcriptase. In 1973 he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University together with Theodore Puck and Harry Eagle. Dulbecco was the recipient of the Selman A...
, Harry Rubin - 1965 Robert W. HolleyRobert W. HolleyRobert William Holley was an American biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 for describing the structure of alanine transfer RNA, linking DNA and protein synthesis.Holley was born in Urbana, Illinois, and graduated from Urbana High School in 1938...
- 1966 George E. Palade
- 1967 Bernard B. BrodieBernard Brodie (biochemist)Bernard Beryl Brodie , a leading researcher on drug therapy, is considered by many to be the founder of modern pharmacology and brought the field to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a major figure in the field of drug metabolism, the study of how drugs interact in the body and how they...
- 1968 Marshall W. Nirenberg, H. Gobind Khorana, William F. Windle
- 1969 Bruce Merrifield
- 1970 Earl W. Sutherland
- 1971 Seymour BenzerSeymour BenzerSeymour Benzer was an American physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist. His career began during the molecular biology revolution of the 1950s, and he eventually rose to prominence in the fields of molecular and behavioral genetics. He led a productive genetics research lab both at...
, Sydney BrennerSydney BrennerSydney Brenner, CH FRS is a South African biologist and a 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate, shared with H...
, Charles YanofskyCharles Yanofsky- External links :* *... - 1974 Ludwik GrossLudwik GrossLudwik Gross was a Polish-American virologist who discovered two different tumor viruses, murine leukemia virus and mouse polyomavirus, capable of causing cancers in laboratory mice. Gross was born in Cracow, Poland to a prominent Jewish family and studied for a degree in medicine at the...
, Howard E. Skipper, Sol SpiegelmanSol SpiegelmanSol Spiegelman was an American molecular biologist. He developed the technique of nucleic acid hybridization, which helped to lay the groundwork for advances in recombinant DNA technology....
, Howard M. Temin - 1975 Roger C.L. Guillemin, Andrew V. Schally, Frank J. DixonFrank J. DixonFrank James Dixon was an award-winning biomedical researcher, best known for his research into diseases of the immune system that can damage other organs of the body. Dixon was also noted for having developed techniques involving trace iodines to study proteins.Born in St. Paul, Dixon received his...
, Henry G. Kunkel - 1976 Rosalyn S. Yalow
- 1977 K. Sune D. Bergström, Bengt Samuelsson, John R. Vane
- 1978 Hans W. Kosterlitz, John Hughes, Solomon H. SnyderSolomon H. SnyderSolomon H. Snyder is an American neuroscientist.Snyder attended Georgetown University 1955-1958 and received his MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1962. After medical internship at the Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, he served as a research associate 1963-1965 at the NIH,...
- 1979 Walter GilbertWalter GilbertWalter Gilbert is an American physicist, biochemist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932...
, Frederick SangerFrederick SangerFrederick Sanger, OM, CH, CBE, FRS is an English biochemist and a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, the only person to have been so. In 1958 he was awarded a Nobel prize in chemistry "for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin"...
, Roger Wolcott SperryRoger Wolcott SperryRoger Wolcott Sperry was a neuropsychologist, neurobiologist and Nobel laureate who, together with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel, won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work with split-brain research.... - 1980 Paul BergPaul BergPaul Berg is an American biochemist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids...
, Herbert W. Boyer, Stanley N. Cohen, A. Dale Kaiser - 1981 Barbara McClintockBarbara McClintockBarbara McClintock , the 1983 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, was an American scientist and one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927, where she was a leader in the development of maize cytogenetics...
- 1982 J. Michael BishopJ. Michael Bishop-External links:**...
, Raymond L. Erikson, Hidesaburo Hanafusa, Harold E. VarmusHarold E. VarmusHarold Elliot Varmus is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the 14th and current Director of the National Cancer Institute, a post he was appointed to by President Barack Obama. He was a co-recipient Harold Elliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning...
, Robert C. Gallo - 1983 Eric R. KandelEric R. KandelEric Richard Kandel is an American neuropsychiatrist who was a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons...
, Vernon B. MountcastleVernon MountcastleVernon Benjamin Mountcastle is Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.He discovered and characterized the columnar organization of the cerebral cortex in the 1950s... - 1984 Michael Potter, Georges J. F. KöhlerGeorges J. F. Köhler-External links:* http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1984/...
, César MilsteinCésar MilsteinCésar Milstein FRS was an Argentine biochemist in the field of antibody research. Milstein shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Niels K. Jerne and Georges Köhler.-Biography:... - 1985 Michael S. Brown, Joseph L. GoldsteinJoseph L. GoldsteinJoseph L. Goldstein from Kingstree, South Carolina is a Nobel Prize winning biochemist and geneticist, and a pioneer in the study of cholesterol metabolism.-Biography:...
- 1986 Rita Levi-MontalciniRita Levi-MontalciniRita Levi-Montalcini , Knight Grand Cross is an Italian neurologist who, together with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of nerve growth factor...
, Stanley Cohen - 1987 Leroy HoodLeroy HoodLeroy Hood is an American biologist. He won the 2011 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize “for automating DNA sequencing that revolutionized biomedicine and forensic science” and the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Prize for inventing "four instruments that have unlocked much of the mystery of human biology" by...
, Philip LederPhilip LederPhilip Leder is an American geneticist. He was born in Washington, D.C. and studied at Harvard University, graduating in 1956. In 1960, he graduated from Harvard Medical School....
, Susumu TonegawaSusumu TonegawaSusumu Tonegawa is a Japanese scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for his discovery of the genetic mechanism that produces antibody diversity. Although he won the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, Tonegawa is a molecular biologist by training... - 1988 Thomas R. Cech, Phillip A. Sharp
- 1989 Michael J. Berridge, Alfred G. GilmanAlfred G. GilmanAlfred Goodman Gilman is an American pharmacologist and biochemist. He shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Martin Rodbell for their discoveries regarding G-proteins....
, Edwin G. KrebsEdwin G. Krebs-External links:*Hughes, R. 1998. *Krebs, E.G. * *...
, Yasutomi NishizukaYasutomi Nishizukawas a Japanese biochemist who discovered protein kinase C and made important contribution to the understanding of molecular mechanism of signal transduction across the cell membrane.- Birth and education :... - 1991 Edward B. LewisEdward B. Lewis- External links :* *...
, Christiane Nüsslein-VolhardChristiane Nüsslein-VolhardChristiane Nüsslein-Volhard is a German biologist who won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B... - 1993 Günter BlobelGünter Blobel-Biography:Blobel was born in Waltersdorf in the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia. In January 1945 his family fled from native Silesia from the advancing Red Army. On their way to the West they passed through the beautiful old city of Dresden, which left deep impressions in the young boy...
- 1994 Stanley B. PrusinerStanley B. PrusinerStanley Ben Prusiner is an American neurologist and biochemist. Currently the director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at University of California, San Francisco . Prusiner discovered prions, a class of infectious self-reproducing pathogens primarily or solely composed of protein...
- 1995 Peter C. Doherty, Jack L. StromingerJack L. StromingerJack Leonard Strominger is Higgins Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard University, specializing in the structure and function of human histocompatibility proteins and their role in disease. He won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1995.Strominger was born in New York City...
, Emil R. UnanueEmil R. UnanueDr. Emil Raphael Unanue is an immunologist and the current Paul & Ellen Lacy Professor at Washington University School of Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine...
, Don C. Wiley, Rolf M. ZinkernagelRolf M. ZinkernagelRolf Martin Zinkernagel AC is Professor of Experimental Immunology at the University of Zurich.-Career:... - 1996 Robert F. FurchgottRobert F. FurchgottRobert Francis Furchgott was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist.Furchgott was born in Charleston, SC, to Arthur Furchgott and Pena Sorentrue Furchgott...
, Ferid MuradFerid MuradFerid Murad is an Albanian-American physician and pharmacologist, and a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is also an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo.- Life :... - 1997 Mark S. Ptashne
- 1998 Leland H. HartwellLeland H. HartwellLeland Harrison Hartwell is former president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and R...
, Yoshio MasuiYoshio Masuiis a Japanese cell biologist.Masui studied biology at Kyoto University, graduating with his B.Sc. in zoology in 1953, his M.Sc. in 1955 and his Ph.D. in 1961. While still studying at Kyoto University, he taught biology, first as a teacher's assistant and then as a teacher, at Konan University,...
, Paul NursePaul NurseSir Paul Maxime Nurse, PRS is a British geneticist and cell biologist. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland H. Hartwell and R... - 1999 Clay ArmstrongClay ArmstrongClay Margarave Armstrong is an American physiologist and a former student of Dr. Andrew Fielding Huxley. He is currently a professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania....
, Bertil HilleBertil HilleBertil Hille is a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington. He is particularly well known for his research and expertise on cell signalling by ion channels.-Early life and education:...
, Roderick MacKinnonRoderick MacKinnonRoderick MacKinnon is a professor of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics at Rockefeller University who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Peter Agre in 2003 for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels.... - 2000 Aaron CiechanoverAaron CiechanoverAaron Ciechanover is an Israeli biologist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.- Biography :Ciechanover was born in Haifa, British mandate of Palestine, a year before the establishment of the State of Israel...
, Avram HershkoAvram HershkoAvram Hershko is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.-Biography:Born Herskó Ferenc in Karcag, Hungary, Hershko emigrated to Israel in 1950. Received his M.D. in 1965 and his Ph.D in 1969 from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel...
, Alexander VarshavskyAlexander VarshavskyAlexander Varshavsky is a Russian-American biochemist and recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Wolf Prize in Medicine and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 2001 for his research on ubiquitination... - 2001 Mario CapecchiMario CapecchiMario Renato Capecchi is an Italian-born American molecular geneticist and a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method for introducing homologous recombination in mice employing embryonic stem cells, with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies...
, Martin EvansMartin EvansSir Martin John Evans FRS is a British scientist who, with Matthew Kaufman, was the first to culture mice embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981...
, Oliver SmithiesOliver SmithiesOliver Smithies is a British-born American geneticist and Nobel laureate, credited with the invention of gel electrophoresis in 1955, and the simultaneous discovery, with Mario Capecchi and Martin Evans, of the technique of homologous recombination of transgenic DNA with genomic DNA, a much more... - 2002 James E. RothmanJames RothmanJames E. Rothman is the Fergus F. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Yale University and at Yale University Medical School. He has received many honors, including the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research both in 2002...
, Randy W. SchekmanRandy SchekmanRandy W. Schekman is an American cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley and Editor-in-Chief of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2011 he was announced as the editor of a new high profile open access journal published by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the... - 2003 Robert G. RoederRobert G. RoederRobert G. Roeder is an American biologist. He is known as a pioneer in eukaryotic transcription. He is the recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 2000 and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2003...
- 2004 Pierre Chambon, Ronald M. EvansRonald M. EvansRonald M. Evans is an American professor and biologist who works at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. He received his BS and PhD degrees from UCLA, followed by a postdoctoral training in Rockefeller University...
, Elwood V. JensenElwood V. JensenElwood V. Jensen is the Distinguished University Professor, George and Elizabeth Wile Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine's Vontz Center for Molecular Studies. In 2004 he received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for his research on... - 2005 Ernest McCullochErnest McCullochErnest Armstrong McCulloch, OC, O.Ont, FRSC was a University of Toronto cellular biologist, best known for demonstrating – with James Till – the existence of stem cells.-Biography:...
, James TillJames TillJames Edgar Till, OC, O.Ont, FRSC is a University of Toronto biophysicist, best known for demonstrating – with Ernest McCulloch – the existence of stem cells.-Early work:... - 2006 Elizabeth BlackburnElizabeth BlackburnElizabeth Helen Blackburn, AC, FRS is an Australian-born American biological researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes that protects the chromosome. Blackburn co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the...
, Carol W. GreiderCarol W. GreiderCarolyn Widney "Carol" Greider is an American molecular biologist. She is Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University. She discovered the enzyme telomerase in 1984, when she was a graduate student of Elizabeth Blackburn at the University of...
, Jack Szostak - 2007 Ralph M. SteinmanRalph M. SteinmanRalph Marvin Steinman was a Canadian immunologist and cell biologist at Rockefeller University, who in 1973 coined the term dendritic cells while working as a postdoc in the lab of Zanvil A. Cohn, also at Rockefeller University....
- 2008 Victor R. AmbrosVictor AmbrosVictor Ambros is an American developmental biologist who discovered the first known microRNA . He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts.-Background:...
, David C. Baulcombe, Gary B. RuvkunGary RuvkunGary Ruvkun is an American molecular biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Ruvkun discovered the mechanism by which lin-4, the first microRNA discovered by Victor Ambros, regulates the translation of target messenger RNAs via imperfect base-pairing to those... - 2009 John GurdonJohn GurdonSir John Bertrand Gurdon , FRS is a British developmental biologist. He is best known for his pioneering research in nuclear transplantation and cloning. He was recently awarded the Lasker Award.-Career:...
, Shinya YamanakaShinya Yamanakais a Japanese physician and adult stem cell researcher. He serves as the director of Center for iPS Cell Research and Application and a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University, as a senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated J... - 2010 Douglas L. ColemanDouglas L. ColemanDouglas L. Coleman is a scientist at The Jackson Laboratory. His discovery of the hormone leptin and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human obesity....
, Jeffrey M. FriedmanJeffrey M. FriedmanJeffrey Friedman, MD, PhD, is a molecular geneticist at New York City's Rockefeller University. His discovery of the hormone leptin and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human obesity.-Biography:... - 2011 Franz-Ulrich HartlFranz-Ulrich HartlFranz-Ulrich Hartl is a German biochemist and Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. He is known for his pioneering work in the field of protein-mediated protein folding....
, Arthur L. HorwichArthur L. HorwichArthur L. Horwich is an American biologist and Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. Horwich has also been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1990. His research into protein folding uncovered the action of chaperonins, protein complexes...