A big lotto for biologists

The biggest life sciences prize ever

        Nobel prizes have long been regarded as the most influential prizes in history not only because of its high selection standards but also because of its huge amount of reward which is about 1 million dollars allocated to at most 3 laureates. Nobel physiological prize will still take the lead in boosting life science in the near future. However, the number of the reward has been eclipsed by a new announced Breakthrough Prize which is worth 3 million dollars, the most lucrative annual prize in the history of science.

        The Breakthrough Prize was launched by Mark Zuckerburg, the founder of Facebook, Yuri Milner, the co-founder of Google, and Sergey Brin, a venture capitalist with an intention to combat cancer, diabetes, and other maladies. The establishment of this prize was ignited by the dramatic progression in some state-of-the-art technologies like genome sequencing. This year, the prize goes to 11 scientists from United States, Japan, Italy, and Netherlands. Among these recipients, some really famous names in life sciences are hit including Yamanaka, the 2012 Noble Laureate for his contribution in induced stem cell, and Robert A Weinberg, who discovered the first human oncogene Ras and first tumor suppressor Rb.

        It is still premature to evaluate any influence of this prize on life sciences. One point is clear, smart and energetic scientists will be encouraged to make great breakthrough for human health.

List of recipients of 2013 Breakthrough Prize.   

1 Cornelia I Bargmann
Torsten N Wiesel professor and head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the Rockefeller University. Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
For the genetics of neural circuits and behavior, and synaptic guidepost molecules.
2 David Botstein
Director and Anthony B Evnin professor of genomics. Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University.
For linkage mapping of Mendelian disease in humans using DNA polymorphisms.
3 Lewis C Cantley
Margaret and Herman Sokol professor and director of the cancer centre at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian hospital.
For the discovery of PI 3-Kinase and its role in cancer metabolism.
4 Hans Clevers
Professor of molecular genetics at Hubrecht Institute.
For describing the role of Wnt signaling in tissue stem cells and cancer.
5 Titia de Lange
Leon Hess professor, head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics, and director of the Anderson Centeer for Cancer Research at Rockefeller University.
For research on telomeres, illuminating how they protect chromosome ends and their role in genome instability in cancer.
6 Napoleone Ferrara
Distinguished professor of pathology and senior deputy director for basic sciences at Moores Cancer Centre at the University of California, San Diego.
For discoveries in the mechanisms of angiogenesis that led to therapies for cancer and eye diseases.
7 Eric S Lander
President and founding director of the Eli and Edythe L Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Professor of biology at MIT. Professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School.
For the discovery of general principles for identifying human disease genes, and enabling their application to medicine through the creation and analysis of genetic, physical and sequence maps of the human genome
8 Charles L Sawyers
Chair, human oncology and pathogenesis programme at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
For cancer genes and targeted therapy.
9 Bert Vogelstein
Director of the Ludwig Center and Clayton Professor of Oncology and Pathology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
For cancer genomics and tumor suppressor genes.
10 Robert A Weinberg
Daniel K Ludwig professor for cancer research at MIT and director of the MIT/Ludwig Centre for Molecular Oncology. Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
For characterisation of human cancer genes.
11 Shinya Yamanaka
Director of the Centre for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University. Senior investigator and the LK Whittier Foundation investigator in stem cell biology at the Gladstone Institutes. Professor of anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco