Wiley Prize
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.[1]
The Wiley Foundation, established in 2001, is the endowing body that supports the Wiley Prize in
Biomedical Sciences.[2]
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.[2]
As of 2016, six recipients have gone on to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[1]
Award recipients
Source: Wiley Foundation[3]
2002
H. Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 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 Korsmeyer was chosen
for his discovery of the relationship between human lymphomas and the fundamental biological process
of apoptosis. Korsmeyer's experiments established that blocking cell death plays a primary role in cancer.
2003
Andrew Z. Fire, of both the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Johns Hopkins University; Craig
C. Mello, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School; Thomas Tuschl, formerly of the Max-
Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, and most recently of The Rockefeller
University; and 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).
2004
C. 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.
2005
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 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.
2006
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 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.
2007
F. Ulrich Hartl, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, in Munich, Germany, and Arthur L.
Horwich, Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at the Yale University School of
Medicine, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.[4] – 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.
2008
Richard P. Lifton of the Yale University School of Medicine.[5] – For the discovery of the genes that
cause many forms of high and low blood pressure in humans.
2009
Bonnie Bassler of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University and the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute.[1] – For pioneering investigations of quorum sensing, a mechanism that allows bacteria
to "talk" to each other to coordinate their behavior, even between species.
2010
Peter Hegemann, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, Humboldt University, Berlin; Georg Nagel,
Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology, Department of Botany, University of Würzburg; and 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.
2011
Lily Jan and 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.
2012
Michael Sheetz, Columbia University; James Spudich, Stanford University, and Ronald Vale, University
of California, San Francisco for explaining how cargo is moved by molecular motors along two different
systems of tracks within cells.[6]
2013
Michael Young, Rockefeller University; Jeffrey Hall, Brandeis University (Emeritus), and Michael
Rosbash, Brandeis University for the discovery of the molecular mechanisms governing circadian
rhythms.
2014
William Kaelin, Jr.; Steven McKnight; Peter J. Ratcliffe; Gregg L. Semenza for their work in oxygen
sensing systems.
2015
Evelyn M. Witkin and Stephen Elledge for their studies of the DNA damage response. [7]
2016
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.
2017
Joachim Frank, Richard Henderson, and Marin van Heel for pioneering developments in electron
microscopy.
2018
Lynne E. Maquat for elucidating the mechanism of nonsense-mediated messenger RNA decay.
2019
Svante Pääbo and David Reich for sequencing the genomes of ancient humans and extinct relatives.
2020
No award due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
Clifford Brangwynne, Anthony Hyman, and Michael Rosen for a new principle of subcellular
compartmentalization based on formation of phase-separated biomolecular condensates.
2022
David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for pioneering studies in protein structure predictions.
2023
Michael J. Welsh, Paul Negulescu, Fredrick Van Goor, and Sabine Hadida for research and development
leading to medicines that effectively treat cystic fibrosis by correcting the folding, trafficking, and
functioning of the mutated cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR).[8]
2024
Judith Kimble, Allan Spradling, and Raymond Schofield for their discovery of the stem cell niche, a
localized environment that controls stem-cell identity.[9]
See also
List of biology awards
List of medicine awards
References
1. "Wiley::News" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090224221642/http://www.wiley.com/WileyCD
A/Section/id-301452,newsId-2399.html). Archived from the original (http://www.wiley.com/Wil
eyCDA/Section/id-301452,newsId-2399.html) on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
2. "Wiley: The Wiley Foundation Home" (http://www.wiley.com/legacy/wileyfoundation/about_pr
ize.html).
3. Wiley Foundation (http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-390061.html)
4. "Recipients Of 6th Annual Wiley Prize In Biomedical Sciences Announced By Wiley
Foundation" (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/62018.php). Medical News Today.
2007-02-02.
5. "Seventh Annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences Awarded to Dr. Richard P. Lifton" (htt
p://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_Feb_4/ai_n24246100). BNet. 2008-02-04.
6. "Eleventh Annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences Awarded to Dr. Michael Sheetz, Dr.
James Spudich, and Dr. Ronald Vale - TheStreet" (https://web.archive.org/web/2015060523
3517/http://www.thestreet.com/story/11392304/1/eleventh-annual-wiley-prize-in-biomedical-
sciences-awarded-to-dr-michael-sheetz-dr-james-spudich-and-dr-ronald-vale.html).
Archived from the original (http://www.thestreet.com/story/11392304/1/eleventh-annual-wile
y-prize-in-biomedical-sciences-awarded-to-dr-michael-sheetz-dr-james-spudich-and-dr-rona
ld-vale.html) on 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
7. "Wiley: The Wiley Foundation Home" (http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-390059.htm
l).
8. Laureates 2023 (http://johnwiley2020news.q4web.com/press-releases/press-release-details/
2023/-The-21st-Annual-Wiley-Prize-in-Biomedical-Sciences-Awarded-for-Novel-Cystic-Fibro
sis-Treatment/default.aspx)
9. Laureates 2024 (https://www.wiley.com/en-us/foundation/prize/biomedical#accordion-3ac77
18796-item-3bb94c90af)
External links
The Wiley Foundation (http://www.wileyfoundation.org/)
Laureates 2021 - Protein structure prediction (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-0
3819-2)
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