ABOVE: One of Xiaowei Zhuang’s students went on to use STORM to reveal the triangular protein mesh underlying the membranes of red blood cells.
KE XU, UC BERKELEY
The 2019 Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences honor five scientists working in fields from genetics to microscopy, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced yesterday (October 17). Each take home $3 million.
Molecular geneticist Adrian Krainer of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory received the award for his part in developing nusinersen (Spinraza), an oligonucleotide therapeutic for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. His colleague Frank Bennett, senior vice president of research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals—the company that commercialized the drug—also received an award. Read The Scientist’s coverage of their work on nusinersen here.
Cell biologist Angelika Amon was awarded a prize for work on the effects of an abnormal number of chromosomes on cell function. The MIT researcher spoke with The Scientist about her work on the ...
