Lasker Prize Winners announced

7 scientists have won prestigious awards

Seven scientists have won the prestigious medical Lasker Prize for the development of liver transplantation, discoveries about the inner workings of cells (this is written by the "News of America", so sorry for the Brighton accent – VM) and leadership in the field of biomedicine.

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced the winners on Monday. Prizes worth $250,000 for each of the three categories will be awarded in New York on September 21.

The Lasker Prize for Clinical Medical Research was shared by Dr. Thomas Starzl of the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Roy Calne, Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, for the development of liver transplantation.

Their surgical procedures to prevent organ rejection were done initially in dogs. In 1960, in the Kalna experiment, the dog demonstrated for the first time that the drug could fend off organ rejection. Starzl tried to transplant a liver to the first person in 1963. This patient died during the procedure. The next few patients died within a week of the surgery, but they showed that the transplanted liver could function.

The award for basic medical research was shared by Michael Sheetz from Columbia University, James Spudich from Stanford University, and Ronald Vale from the University of California, San Francisco. They were awarded for discoveries concerning the biological mechanism of muscle contraction. Their work laid the foundations for research in the treatment of diseases, including cancer and cardiac disorders.

The award for Special Achievements in medical science was shared by Donald Brown from the Carnegie Institution and Tom Maniatis from Columbia University for "exceptional leadership and citizenship in biomedicine."

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru11.09.2012