A movie Superman and three laboratory Supermen have won the 2003 Lasker Awards for their various contributions to supporting biomedical research, eukaryotic RNA polymerase research, and work in rheumatoid arthritis therapy using anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF).
Christopher Reeve, who played Superman in three films, will be given the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service in Support of Medical Research and the Health Sciences for his work bolstering public support of research into paralysis since a 1995 horseback riding accident left him quadriplegic. Reeve is the chair of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which is expected to spend $7.4 million in grants for neuroscience in 2003 and more than $600,000 in Quality of Life awards.
In a telephone interview with The Scientist, Reeve said he has tried to challenge the once-strong belief that spinal cord injuries are intractable and irreversible. "Beginning with that attitude of… denial and simply not wanting ...
