MRC scientist wins 2010 Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine
28 January 2010
British biologist Professor Austin Smith, Medical Research Council professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at Cambridge University, has been awarded the 2010 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine.
The Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, one of Europe’s most prominent awards, fosters scientific excellence and distinguishes leading-edge researchers who are active in the European Council member countries.
The award recognises Professor Smith’s contribution to understanding the mechanisms governing the renewal or differentiation of stem cells, a vital stage in the development of cell treatments. He has been awarded 600,000 Swiss Francs (CHF) for the continuation of his work, and 100,000 CHF for his personal use.
Professor Smith is a world-class specialist in embryonic stem cell research. He showed how pluripotent stem cells form at the embryonic stage, and how they could proliferate in a cell culture environment. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, capable of developing differently to become the specialised cells of the heart, the skin, nerves or any other organ or tissue His work has guided cell therapy development, which is aimed at regenerating damaged tissues or organs.
He will use the prize money to continue his work on stem cells. He plans to use the embryos of rabbits and marmosets in order to establish whether the mechanisms leading to pluripotency, which he has shown to exist in rodents, are also to be found in other mammals.
Professor Smith receives the award along with French cardiologist Michel Haissaguerre, Professor of Cardiology at the University Victor-Segalen Bordeaux 2 and head of the Department of Cardiac Arrhythmias of the University Hospital of Bordeaux. The Award Ceremony will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday 22 April 2010.
Since 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine has been awarded to 70 researchers: 23 in the United Kingdom, 14 in Switzerland, 12 in France, 10 in Germany, three in the Netherlands, three in Sweden, two in Belgium, two in Finland and one in Austria. Their geographical distribution by country does not reflect the nationalities of the prize-winners, who come from all over the world and reflect the spread of the European centres of excellence in biomedical research. The key research fields encouraged by the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine are physiology, biophysics, structural biology, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, developmental biology and genetics.
For further information about the awards, visit: www.jeantet.ch/e/prize
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