Canada Gairdner Award Laureates Win Prestigious Breakthrough Prize

The Gairdner Foundation is excited to announce that three Canada Gairdner Award laureates, Stephen J. Elledge (2013), Harry F. Noller (2007) and Yoshinori Ohsumi (2015) will be awarded the 2017 Breakthrough Prize. The prize, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year, awards more than $25M each year in celebration of top achievements in science.

Gairdner is proud to have its laureates represented among the world’s leading scientists.

Stephen J. Elledge

Stephen receives the prize for his work in elucidating how eukaryotic cells sense and respond to damage in their DNA and providing insights into the development and treatment of cancer. Elledge is the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and Medicine in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and in the Division of Genetics at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Harry F. Noller

Harry is recognized for discovering the centrality of RNA in forming the active centers of the ribosome, the fundamental machinery of protein synthesis in all cells, thereby connecting modern biology to the origin of life and also explaining how natural antibiotics disrupt protein synthesis. Noller is Director of the Center for Molecular Biology of RNA, Robert L. Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology and Professor Emeritus of MCD Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Yoshinori Ohsumi

Yoshinori is celebrated for elucidating autophagy, the recycling system that cells use to generate nutrients from their own inessential or damaged components. Ohsumi is an Honorary Professor, Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Ohsumi has also been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Ohsumi is the 84th Gairdner laureate be awarded a Nobel Prize.