The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences is
intended to recognize breakthrough research
in pure or applied life science research that
is distinguished by its excellence, originality
and impact on our understanding of biological
systems and processes.
The award may recognize a specific contribution
or series of contributions that demonstrate
the nominee’s significant leadership in
the development of research concepts or their
clinical application.
Particular emphasis will be placed on research
that champions novel approaches and challenges
accepted thinking in the biomedical sciences.The
Wiley Foundation, established in 2001, is
the endowing body that supports the Wiley
Prize in Biomedical Sciences.This international
award is presented annually and consists of
a $35,000 prize and a luncheon in honor of
the recipient.
The award is presented at a ceremony at The
Rockefeller University, where the recipient
delivers an honorary lecture as part of the
Rockefeller University Lecture Series.As of
2016, six recipients have gone on to be awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
== Award recipients ==
Source: Wiley Foundation
2018Lynne E. Maquat
2017Joachim Frank, Richard Henderson, and
Marin van Heel for pioneering developments
in electron microscopy
2016Dr.
Yoshinori Ohsumi for the discovery of how
cells recycle their components in an orderly
manner.
This process, autophagy (self-eating), is
critical for the maintenance and repair of
cells and tissues.
2015Dr.
Evelyn M. Witkin and Dr. Stephen Elledge for
their studies of the DNA damage response.
2014Dr.
William Kaelin, Jr.; Dr. Steven McKnight;
Dr. Peter J. Ratcliffe; Dr. Gregg L. Semenza
for their work in oxygen sensing systems.
2013Dr.
Michael Young, Rockefeller University; Dr.
Jeffrey Hall, Brandeis University (Emeritus),
and Dr. Michael Rosbash, Brandeis University
for the discovery of the molecular mechanisms
governing circadian rhythms.
2012Dr.
Michael Sheetz, Columbia University; Dr. James
Spudich, Stanford University, and Dr. Ronald
Vale, University of California, San Francisco
for explaining how cargo is moved by molecular
motors along two different systems of tracks
within cells.
2011Dr.
Lily Jan and Dr. Yuh Nung Jan of Howard Hughes
Medical Institute at the University of California,
San Francisco for their molecular identification
of a founding member of a family of potassium
ion channels that control nerve cell activity
throughout the animal kingdom.
2010Dr.
Peter Hegemann, Professor of Molecular Biophysics,
Humboldt University, Berlin; Dr. Georg Nagel,
Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology, Department
of Botany, University of Würzburg; and Dr.
Ernst Bamberg, Professor and Director of the
Dept of Biophysical Chemistry, Max Planck
Institute for Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany
for their discovery of channelrhodopsins,
a family of light-activated ion channels.
The discovery has greatly enlarged and strengthened
the new field of optogenetics.
Channelrhodopsins also provide a high potential
for biomedical applications such as the recovery
of vision and optical deep brain stimulation
for treatment of Parkinson's and other diseases,
instead of the more invasive electrode-based
treatments.
2009Dr.
Bonnie Bassler of the Department of Molecular
Biology at Princeton University and the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute.
- For pioneering investigations of quorum
sensing, a mechanism that allows bacteria
to “talk” to each other to coordinate
their behavior, even between species.
2008Dr.
Richard P. Lifton of the Yale University School
of Medicine.
- For the discovery of the genes that cause
many forms of high and low blood pressure
in humans.
2007Dr.
F. Ulrich Hartl, Director at the Max Planck
Institute of Biochemistry, in Munich, Germany,
and Dr. Arthur L. Horwich, Eugene Higgins
Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at the
Yale University School of Medicine, and Investigator,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
- For elucidation of the molecular machinery
that guides proteins into their proper functional
shape, thereby preventing the accumulation
of protein aggregates that underlie many diseases,
such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
2006Dr.
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Morris Herztein Professor
of Biology and Physiology in the Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University
of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Carol
Greider, Daniel Nathans Professor and Director
of Molecular Biology & Genetics at Johns Hopkins
University - For the discovery of telomerase,
the enzyme that maintains chromosomal integrity
and the recognition of its importance in aging,
cancer and stem cell biology.
2005Dr.
Peter Walter, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
investigator, and Professor and Chairman of
the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics
at the University of California San Francisco,
and Dr. Kazutoshi Mori, a Professor of Biophysics,
in the Graduate School of Science at Kyoto
University, in Japan - For the discovery of
the novel pathway by which cells regulate
the capacity of their intracellular compartments
to produce correctly folded proteins for export.
2004C.
David Allis, Ph.D., Joy and Jack Fishman,
Professor, Laboratory of Chromatin Biology
and Epigenetics at the Rockefeller University
in New York - For the significant discovery
that transcription factors can enzymatically
modify histones to regulate gene activity.
2003Dr.
Andrew Z.
Fire, of both the Carnegie Institution of
Washington and the Johns Hopkins University;
Dr. Craig C. Mello, of the University of Massachusetts
Medical School; Dr. Thomas Tuschl, formerly
of the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, and most
recently of The Rockefeller University; and
Dr. David Baulcombe, of the Sainsbury Laboratory
at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England
- For contributions to discoveries of novel
mechanisms for regulating gene expression
by small interfering RNAs (siRNA).
2002Dr.
H. Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and Dr. Stanley J. Korsmeyer
of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute - For
his seminal research on programmed cell death
and the discovery that a genetic pathway accounts
for the programmed cell death within an organism,
and Dr. Korsmeyer was chosen for his discovery
of the relationship between human lymphomas
and the fundamental biological process of
apoptosis.
Notably, Dr. Korsmeyer's experiments established
that blocking cell death plays a primary role
in cancer
