NAS Award in Molecular Biology

The NAS Award in Molecular Biology is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist who is a citizen of the United States." It has been awarded annually since its inception in 1962.

Source: NAS

For his landmark discovery that bacteria have adaptive immune systems, groundbreaking work that catalyzed the manipulation of the CRISPR-Cas9 pathway for genome engineering.

For her discovery of microbial mechanisms underlying geologic processes, thereby launching the field of molecular geomicrobiology and transforming our understanding of how the Earth evolved.

For the development of a high-resolution microscopy method (STORM) that allows molecular-scale resolution, by bypassing the ‘diffraction limit’ that has long shackled light microscopy. In addition, she developed the photo-switchable fluorescent dyes that have made this method a powerful and critical tool in many areas of biological research and neuroscience.

For his discovery of components and regulators of the mTOR kinase pathway and his elucidation of the important roles of this signaling pathway in nutrient sensing, cell physiology, and cancer.

For the isolation and in vitro characterization of a functional kinetochore complex, and for the use of that system to explore kinetochore function.

For his creative use of elegant biochemistry both in elucidating an unsuspected role for polyubiquitin in a kinase-signaling cascade important for cancer and immunity and in discovering a novel link between innate immunity and a mitochondrial membrane protein that forms prion-like polymers to trigger antiviral responses.

For elucidating the structures of topoisomerases and helicases and providing insights into the biochemical mechanisms that mediate the replication and transcription of DNA.

By using X-chromosome inactivation as a model system, Lee has made unique contributions to our understanding of epigenetic regulation on a global scale, including the role of long, non-coding RNAs, interchromosomal interactions, and nuclear compartmentalization.

For groundbreaking studies illuminating the mechanisms of DNA replication in eukaryotic cells.

For groundbreaking studies that have provided insight into the mechanism of the central process of chromosome segregation and the regulation of segregation.

For elucidation of the enzymatic engine for RNA interference.

For establishing a new mode of regulation of gene expression in which metabolites regulate the activity of their cognate pathways by directly binding to mRNA.

For his discoveries on the repertoire of catalytic RNA and the analysis of micro RNA genes and their targets.

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