Lasker Awards honor biomedical research 

Four scientists have been named the recipients of the 2018 Lasker Awards from the Albert & Mary Lasker Foundation in recognition of their accomplishments in basic and clinical medical research that improve human health. The prizes will be awarded during a ceremony in New York City on Sept. 21.

The awards carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category and are shared equally among the recipients of each award. Many Lasker laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

“With these awards, we honor innovative scientific thinking and years of dedicated meticulous research that expanded knowledge and improved health,” Claire Pomeroy, president of the Lasker Foundation, said in a statement. “These researchers made groundbreaking discoveries, but not all at once. Their achievements came piece by piece, with each step depending upon continued funding and societal support.”

C. David Allis of Rockefeller University and Michael Grunstein from the University of California, Los Angeles, are the recipients of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for their work on understanding how gene expression is influenced by chemical modification of histone proteins.

John B. Glen, who is retired from AstraZeneca, will receive the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his discovery and development of propofol, a widely used anesthetic that acts quickly and has few side effects. He also developed technology enabling target-controlled infusion for propofol, allowing it to be delivered for prolonged periods of time.

Joan Argetsinger Steitz of Yale University will receive the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science for her pioneering discoveries in RNA biology, mentoring of budding scientists, and passionate support of women in science.

Please send announcements of awards to l_wang@acs.org.