2023 Breakthrough Prizes Showcase Research in AI and Narcolepsy

Three prizes were awarded to six researchers working across the life sciences on cellular organization, protein structure, and the genetic underpinnings of a chronic sleep disorder.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 2 min read

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A ball-and-stick plus ribbons molecular model of the hormone orexin, also known as hypocretin, isolated on a white background.

Researchers in California and Japan were awarded a joint prize for linking narcolepsy to the protein orexin. The protein’s three-dimensional shape was predicted earlier this year by the deep learning system AlphaFold 2, whose developers also received a Breakthrough Prize.

Image credit:© iStock.com, theasis

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The latest Breakthrough Prizes—among the world’s most lucrative research awards—were awarded today (September 22) to life scientists working in fields as varied as neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Six men shared three awards, each of which is worth $3 million and sponsored by philanthropists Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki.

The first award is to be shared by Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics geneticist Anthony Hyman and Princeton University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute bioengineer Clifford Brangwynne, formerly a postdoc in Hyman’s lab, for their work discovering a fundamental mechanism of cellular organization: liquid-liquid phase separation. When the two scientists first published a paper on the phenomenon in Science in 2009, it received little fanfare outside of a small group of niche researchers, according to a press release from Princeton, garnering only 10 or so citations in the first ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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