The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences is intended to recognize breakthrough research in pure or applied life science research that is distinguished by its excellence, originality and impact on our understanding of biological systems and processes. The award may recognize a specific contribution or series of contributions that demonstrate the nominee's significant leadership in the development of research concepts or their clinical application. Particular emphasis will be placed on research that champions novel approaches and challenges accepted thinking in the
biomedical sciences
Biomedical sciences are a set of sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, or both, to develop knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbio ...
.
The Wiley Foundation, established in 2001, is the endowing body that supports the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences.
This international award is presented annually and consists of a $35,000 prize and a luncheon in honor of the recipient. The award is presented at a ceremony at The
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...
, where the recipient delivers an honorary lecture as part of the Rockefeller University Lecture Series.
[
As of 2016, six recipients have gone on to be awarded the ]Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...
.
Award recipients
Source: Wiley Foundation
;2002
H. Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
and Stanley J. Korsmeyer of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Dana may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Dana (company), a Slovenian beverage company
* Dana (payment service), in Indonesia
* Dana Air, a Nigerian airline
* Dana College, formerly in Nebraska, U.S.
* Dana Energy, an Iranian oil and ga ...
– For his seminal research on programmed cell death
Programmed cell death (PCD) sometimes referred to as cell, or cellular suicide is the death of a cell (biology), cell as a result of events inside of a cell, such as apoptosis or autophagy. PCD is carried out in a biological process, which usual ...
and the discovery that a genetic pathway accounts for the programmed cell death within an organism, and Korsmeyer was chosen for his discovery of the relationship between human lymphomas
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...
and the fundamental biological process of apoptosis
Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...
. Korsmeyer's experiments established that blocking cell death
Cell death is the event of a biological cell ceasing to carry out its functions. This may be the result of the natural process of old cells dying and being replaced by new ones, as in programmed cell death, or may result from factors such as di ...
plays a primary role in cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
.
;2003
Andrew Z. Fire, of both the Carnegie Institution
The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in Wa ...
of Washington and the Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
; Craig C. Mello
Craig Cameron Mello (born October 18, 1960) is an American biologist and professor of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicin ...
, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School
The UMass Chan Medical School is a public medical school in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is part of the University of Massachusetts system. It consists of three schools: the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Morningside Graduate School of Biom ...
; Thomas Tuschl
Thomas Tuschl (born 1 June 1966) is a German biochemist and molecular biologist, known for his research on RNA.
Biography
Tuschl was born in Altdorf bei Nürnberg. After graduating in Chemistry from Regensburg University, Tuschl received his PhD ...
, formerly of the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, and most recently of The Rockefeller University; and David Baulcombe
Sir David Charles Baulcombe (born 7 April 1952) is a British plant scientist and geneticist. he was Head of Group, Gene Expression, in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and the Edward Penley Abraham Royal Socie ...
, of the Sainsbury Laboratory
The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) is a research institute located at the Norwich Research Park in Norwich, Norfolk, England, that carries out fundamental biological research and technology development on aspects of plant disease, plant disease r ...
at the John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and B ...
in Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, England – For contributions to discoveries of novel mechanisms for regulating gene expression by small interfering RNAs (siRNA).
;2004
C. David Allis, Ph.D., Joy and Jack Fishman, Professor, Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics at the Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...
in New York – For the significant discovery that transcription factors
In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fun ...
can enzymatically modify histones
In biology, histones are highly Base (chemistry), basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei and in most Archaea, Archaeal Phylum, phyla. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create st ...
to regulate gene activity.
;2005
Peter Walter
Peter Walter (born December 5, 1954) is a German-American molecular biologist and biochemist. He is currently the Director of the Bay Area Institute of Science at Altos Labs and an emeritus professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biop ...
, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of California San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
, and Kazutoshi Mori, a professor of biophysics, in the Graduate School of Science at Kyoto University
, or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan.
The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...
, in Japan – For the discovery of the novel pathway by which cells regulate the capacity of their intracellular compartments to produce correctly folded proteins for export.
;2006
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Morris Herztein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
, and Carol Greider
Carolyn Widney Greider (born April 15, 1961) is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Greider discovered ...
, Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology & Genetics at Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
– For the discovery of telomerase
Telomerase, also called terminal transferase, is a ribonucleoprotein that adds a species-dependent telomere repeat sequence to the 3' end of telomeres. A telomere is a region of repetitive sequences at each end of the chromosomes of most euka ...
, the enzyme that maintains chromosomal integrity and the recognition of its importance in aging, cancer and stem cell biology
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...
.
;2007
F. Ulrich Hartl, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (; abbreviated MPIB) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich. The institute was founded in 1973 by the merger of three formerly independent institute ...
, in Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Germany, and Arthur L. Horwich, Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...
, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
. – For elucidation of the molecular machinery that guides proteins into their proper functional shape, thereby preventing the accumulation of protein aggregates that underlie many diseases, such as Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
and Parkinson's
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become more prevalen ...
.
;2008
Richard P. Lifton of the Yale University School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...
. – For the discovery of the genes that cause many forms of high and low blood pressure in humans.
;2009
Bonnie Bassler
Bonnie Lynn Bassler (born 1962) is an American molecular biologist; the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She has ...
of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
. – For pioneering investigations of quorum sensing
In biology, quorum sensing or quorum signaling (QS) is the process of cell-to-cell communication that allows bacteria to detect and respond to cell population density by gene regulation, typically as a means of acclimating to environmental disadv ...
, a mechanism that allows bacteria to "talk" to each other to coordinate their behavior, even between species.
;2010
Peter Hegemann, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, Humboldt University
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...
, Berlin; Georg Nagel
Georg Nagel (born 24 August 1953 in Weingarten, Germany) is a biophysicist and professor at the Department for Neurophysiology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. His research is focused on microbial photoreceptors and the development of op ...
, Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology, Department of Botany, University of Würzburg
The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...
; and Ernst Bamberg, Professor and Director of the Dept of Biophysical Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany for their discovery of channelrhodopsins
Channelrhodopsins are a subfamily of retinylidene proteins (rhodopsins) that function as light-gated ion channels. They serve as sensory photoreceptors in unicellular green algae, controlling phototaxis: movement in response to light. Expressed ...
, a family of light-activated ion channels. The discovery has greatly enlarged and strengthened the new field of optogenetics
Optogenetics is a biological technique to control the activity of neurons or other cell types with light. This is achieved by Gene expression, expression of Channelrhodopsin, light-sensitive ion channels, Halorhodopsin, pumps or Photoactivated ade ...
. Channelrhodopsins also provide a high potential for biomedical applications such as the recovery of vision and optical deep brain stimulation
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a type of neurostimulation therapy in which an implantable pulse generator is stereotactic surgery, surgically implanted subcutaneous tissue, below the skin of the chest and connected by Lead (electronics), leads ...
for treatment of Parkinson's and other diseases, instead of the more invasive electrode-based treatments.
;2011
Lily Jan and Yuh Nung Jan of Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
at the University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
for their molecular identification of a founding member of a family of potassium ion channels that control nerve cell activity throughout the animal kingdom.
;2012
Michael Sheetz
Michael Patrick Sheetz was a cell biologist, a pioneer of mechanobiology and biomechanics, and a key contributor to the discovery of kinesin. He served as the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas ...
, Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
; James Spudich
James A. Spudich () is an American scientist and professor. He is the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Biochemistry and of Cardiovascular Disease at Stanford University and works on the molecular basis of muscle contraction. He was awar ...
, Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, and Ronald Vale, University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
for explaining how cargo is moved by molecular motors
Molecular motors are natural (biological) or artificial molecular machines that are the essential agents of movement in living organisms. In general terms, a motor is a device that consumes energy in one form and converts it into motion or mech ...
along two different systems of tracks within cells.
;2013
Michael Young, Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...
; Jeffrey Hall, Brandeis University
Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
(Emeritus), and Michael Rosbash
Michael Morris Rosbash (born March 7, 1944) is an American geneticist and chronobiologist. Rosbash is a professor and researcher at Brandeis University and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Rosbash's research group cloned th ...
, Brandeis University
Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
for the discovery of the molecular mechanisms governing circadian rhythms.
;2014
William Kaelin Jr.; Steven McKnight; Peter J. Ratcliffe; Gregg L. Semenza for their work in oxygen sensing systems.
;2015
Evelyn M. Witkin and Stephen Elledge for their studies of the DNA damage response.
;2016
Yoshinori Ohsumi
is a Japanese cell biologist specializing in autophagy, the process that cells use to destroy and recycle cellular components. Ohsumi is a professor at Institute of Science Tokyo's Institute of Innovative Research.Yoshinori Ohsumi's He recei ...
for the discovery of how cells recycle their components in an orderly manner. This process, autophagy (self-eating), is critical for the maintenance and repair of cells and tissues.
;2017
Joachim Frank
Joachim Frank () ; born September 12, 1940) is a German-American Biophysics, biophysicist at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate. He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the ...
, Richard Henderson, and Marin van Heel for pioneering developments in electron microscopy.
;2018
Lynne E. Maquat for elucidating the mechanism of nonsense-mediated messenger RNA decay.
;2019
Svante Pääbo
Svante Pääbo (; born 20 April 1955) is a Swedish geneticist and Nobel Laureate who specialises in the field of evolutionary genetics. As one of the founders of paleogenetics, he has worked extensively on the Neanderthal genome. In 1997, he ...
and David Reich for sequencing the genomes of ancient humans and extinct relatives.
;2020
No award due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
;2021
Clifford Brangwynne, Anthony Hyman, and Michael Rosen
Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is an English children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster, activist, and academic, who is a professor of children's literature in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths ...
for a new principle of subcellular compartmentalization based on formation of phase-separated biomolecular condensates.
;2022
David Baker, Demis Hassabis
Sir Demis Hassabis (born 27 July 1976) is a British artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Google DeepMind, and Isomorphic Labs, and a UK Government AI Adviser. In 2024, Ha ...
, and John Jumper for pioneering studies in protein structure predictions.
;2023
Michael J. Welsh, Paul Negulescu, Fredrick Van Goor, and Sabine Hadida for research and development leading to medicines that effectively treat cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...
by correcting the folding, trafficking, and functioning of the mutated cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR).
;2024
Judith Kimble, Allan Spradling, and for their discovery of the stem cell niche, a localized environment that controls stem-cell identity.
;2025
Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas
Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas is a Harvard scientist who works on cancer cell signalling. Since 2023, he has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-government ...
and Iva Greenwald for their work in the discovery and elucidation of the Notch signaling pathway, a crucial mechanism in cellular development and disease.Laureates 2025
/ref>
See also
* List of biology awards
This list of biology awards is an index to articles about notable awards for biology. It includes a general list and lists of ecology, genetics and neuroscience awards. It excludes awards for biochemistry, biomedical science, medicine, ornithol ...
* List of medicine awards
This list of medicine awards is an index to articles about notable awards for contributions to medicine, the science and practice of establishing the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The list is organized by region and c ...
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
The Wiley Foundation
Laureates 2021 - Protein structure prediction
Biology awards
Medicine awards
American awards
Awards established in 2001
Medical lecture series
Rockefeller University
2001 establishments in New York City
Recurring events established in 2001
University and college lecture series