Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Kishnani: Lasker Award won at Stanford!

One of the most respected Science prizes of the world is the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, given by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation in New York City. The purpose of the award is "to honor visionaries whose insight and perseverance have led to dramatic advances with practical medical potential."

This year, a professor from the Stanford School of Medicine will be receiving the award: Dr. Thomas Südhof. Dr. Südhof is a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and his three decades of research have helped us understand how neurons - nerve cells - communicate with each other.

Dr. Südhof will share the award and the $250,000 prize with his former partner and co-winner, Dr. Scheller. Dr. Scheller used to do research at Stanford, but is now the executive vice president for research and early development at Genentech.

Just an average guy, Dr. Südhof enjoys the outdoors, SF Symphony concerts, and spending time with his family. But on the farm, his colleagues admire his memory, intuition, and determination. One co-worker described him as, "the scientific equivalent of the force of nature" and "without him, we'd be ten years behind."

It is very cool that someone from Stanford has won this award and you can read more about it here!

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