Rosenstiel Award Winners

54th (2024)

for their remarkable neurobiological studies of how the brains of humans and other primates recognize faces

Winrich Freiwald
Denise A. and Eugene W. Chinery Professor
Head, Laboratory of Nerual Systems
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

Nancy Kanwisher
Walter A. Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Investigator, McGovern Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA USA

Margaret Livingstone
Takeda Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School

Boston, MA USA

Doris Tsao
Professor, Departments of Molecular & Cell Biology and Neuroscience
Nan Fung Life Sciences Faculty Scholar
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
The University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA

53rd Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lecture Cryo-Electron Tomography: The Power of Seeing the Whole Picture by Award Recipient Wolfgang Baumeister Thursday, April 18, 2024, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
53rd (2023)

for his pioneering work in the development of cryo-electron tomography and his insights into the structures and functions of the protein quality control machinery

Wolfgang Baumeister
Director and Scientific Member emeritus
Department of Molecular Structural Biology

Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

Martinsried, Germany

Video: 53rd award lecture

52nd Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures Wiring the Brain and Local mRNA Translation by Award Recipient Christine Holt and Protein Synthesis at Neuronal Synapses by Award Recipient Erin Schuman Monday, April 24, 2023, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
52nd (2022)

for their pioneering work that shed light on the role of local protein synthesis in neuronal development and function

Christine Holt
Professor emerita of Developmental Neuroscience

Fellow of Gonville and Caius College

University of Cambridge

Cambridge, England

Erin Schuman
Professor of Neurobiology

Max Planck Institute for Brain Research

Frankfurt, Germany

Video: 52nd award lectures

51st Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lecture Watching mRNA Molecules at Work Award Recipient Robert Singer Wednesday, April 6, 2022, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
51st (2021)

for his key role in revealing the dynamics of gene expression using high-resolution imaging

Robert Singer
Harold and Muriel Block Chair in Anatomy & Structural Biology
Professor, Departments of Anatomy & Structural Biology, Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Co-Chair, Department of Anatomy & Structural Biology
Co-Director, Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center
Co-Director, Integrated Imaging Program
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY USA

Video: 51st Award lecture

50th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman February 8, 2021, 12:00 p.m. Zoom
50th (2020)

for their pioneering work in the modification of nucleic acids to develop RNA therapeutics and vaccines

Katalin Karikó
(2023 Nobel Prize)
Senior Vice President, RNA Protein Replacement Therapies

BioNTech SE

Mainz, Germany

Drew Weissman
(2023 Nobel Prize)
Professor of Medicine

Co-Director, Penn Center for AIDS Research, Immunology Core

Director of Vaccine Research, Infectious Diseases Division

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA USA

Video: VIRTUAL 50th Award CEREMONY

49th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian October 12, 2021, 12:00 p.m. Zoom
49th (2019)

for their remarkable contributions to our understanding of the sensations of temperature, pain and touch

David Julius
(2021 Nobel Prize)
Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine

Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology

School of Medicine

The University of California, San Francisco

San Francisco, CA USA

Ardem Patapoutian
(2021 Nobel Prize)
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Professor, Department of Neuroscience

The Scripps Research Institute

La Jolla, CA USA

Video: VIRTUAL 49th Award CEREMONY

48th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lecture Viruses, Proteins and Cells Stephen Harrison March 25, 2019, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
48th (2018)

for his fundamental and far-reaching studies of protein structure using X-ray crystallography

Steven C. Harrison
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Professor of Basic Medical Sciences
Harvard Medical School
Chief, Division of Molecular Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, MA USA

Video: 48th Award Lecture

47th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lecture How Telomeres Solve The End-Protection Problem Titia de Lange April 12, 2018, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
47th (2017)

for her elucidation of the protection of telomeres and the maintenance of genome stability

Titia de Lange
Leon Hess Professor
American Cancer Society Research Professor
Head, Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics
Director, Anderson Center for Cancer Research
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

Video: 47th Award Lecture

46th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures The Remarkable Scientific Life of Susan Lindquist Angelika Amon, Leah Cowen and Daniel Jarosz March 22, 2017, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
46th (2016)

in recognition of her pioneering work on the mechanisms of protein folding and the severe consequences of protein misfolding that are manifest in disease

Susan Lindquist (1949-2016)
Professor
 of Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Member, Whitehead Institute

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA USA

Video: 46th Award Lectures

45th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lecture Lessons From Yeast: Cellular Recycling System, Autophagy Yoshinori Ohsumi April 6, 2016, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang, Room 123
45th (2015)

in recognition of his pioneering discoveries of molecular pathways and biological functions of protein degradation by autophagy

Yoshinori Ohsumi
(2016 Nobel Prize)
Professor

Frontier Research Center

Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo, Japan

44th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lecture Antibody Maturation, Genomic Rearrangements and Cancer Frederick Alt April 13, 2015, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
44th (2014)

in recognition of his pioneering work in elucidating the mechanisms of genome rearrangements in immune and cancer cells

Frederick Alt
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Director, Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Charles A. Janeway Professor of Pediatrics
Professor of Genetics

Harvard Medical School

Boston, MA USA

Video: 44th Award Lecture

43rd Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures Multiphoton Fluorescence Microscopy and the Function of Brain Microcircuits Winfried Denk, David Tank and Watt Webb April 10, 2014, 4:00 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
43rd (2013)

in recognition of their invention of multiphoton fluorescence microscopy and its application to illuminating the function of brain microcircuits

Winfried Denk
Director
Department of Biomedical Optics
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Professor of Physics
University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Germany

David Tank
Henry L. Hillman Professor in Molecular Biology
Co-Director, Princeton Neuroscience Institute
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ USA

Watt W. Webb
Professor emeritus of Applied Physics
S.B. Eckert Professor emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY USA

42nd (2012)

for elucidating how eukaryotic cells sense and respond to DNA damage

Stephen J. Elledge
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Senior Geneticist, Brigham and Womens Hospital
Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics
Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA USA

41st (2011)

for his transformative studies of the control of protein synthesis in mammalian cells

Nahum Sonenberg
James McGill Professor
Department of Biochemistry
Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre
McGill University
Montreal, Canada

40th (2010)

for their discovery that histones and histone acetylation directly regulate transcription

C. David Allis
Tri-Institutional Professor
Joy and Jack Fishman Professor
Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

Michael Grunstein
Distinguished Professor, Biological Chemistry
Department of Biological Chemistry
The University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA USA

39th (2009)

for elucidating the mechanisms of innate immunity

Jules Hoffman
(2011 Nobel Prize)
Professor and Distinguished Class Research Director
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, CNRS
University Louis Pasteur
Strasbourg, France

Ruslan Medzhitov
David W. Wallace Professor of Immunobiology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, CT USA

38th (2008)

for their pioneering work in the field of stem cell research

John Gurdon
(2012 Nobel Prize)
Professor, Department of Zoology
Gurdon Institute
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England

Irving Weissman
Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology
Director, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Institute
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA USA

Shinya Yamanaka
(2012 Nobel Prize)
Professor, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences
Kyoto University
Kyoto, Japan
Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease
Professor of Anatomy
The University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA USA

37th (2007)

for their pioneering work in the field of protein-mediated protein folding

F.-Ulrich Hartl
Director
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Martinsried, Germany

Arthur L. Horwich
Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, CT USA

36th (2006)

for their pioneering work on epigenetic gene regulation in mammalian embryos

Mary Lyon
Mammalian Genetics Unit
MRC Harwell
Oxfordshire, England

Davor Solter
Department Head and Director
Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology
Freiburg, Germany

Azim Surani
Marshall-Walton Professor
Gurdon Institute
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England

35th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures Visualizing Molecules in Live Cells Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien May 2, 2006, 3:15 p.m. Shapiro Campus Center Theater
35th (2005)

for their pioneering development of powerful new tools that allow the direct visualization of molecules in living cells

Martin Chalfie
(2008 Nobel Prize)
William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Biological Sciences
Columbia University
New York, NY USA

Roger Y. Tsien
(2008 Nobel Prize)
Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry & Biochemistry
The University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA USA

34th (2004)

for their pioneering achievements in the discovery of gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

Andrew Z. Fire
(2006 Nobel Prize)
Professor of Pathology and Genetics
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA USA

Craig C. Mello
(2006 Nobel Prize)
Assistant Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor, Program in Molecular Medicine
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Worcester, MA USA

Victor Ambros
(2024 Nobel Prize)

Professor of Genetics
Dartmouth Medical School
Hanover, NH USA

Gary Ruvkun
(2024 Nobel Prize)

Professor of Genetics
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA USA

33rd Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures The Science of Birdsong Peter R. Marler, Masakazu Konishi and Fernando Nottebohm May 4, 2004, 3:15 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
33rd (2003)

for their pioneering achievements in the ethology and neurology of birdsong

Masakzu Konishi
Bing Professor of Behavioral Biology
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA USA

Peter R. Marler
Professor emeritus
Animal Communication Laboratory
The University of California, Davis
Davis, CA USA

Fernando Nottebohm
Dorothea L. Leonhardt Professor
Head, Laboratory of Animal Behavior
Director, Field Research Center
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

32nd (2002)

for his pioneering achievements in yeast genetics and cell biology

Ira Herskowitz
Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and
Codirector, Program in Human Genetics
The University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA USA

31st (2001)

for her work in establishing a sub-field of molecular biology concerning small nuclear ribonucleoproteins

Joan A. Steitz
Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Yale University
New Haven, CT USA

30th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research Lectures Peptide Bond Formation on the Ribosome Peter B. Moore, Harry F. Noller, Jr., and Thomas A. Steitz April 26, 2001, 3:45 p.m. Gerstenzang 123
30th (2000)

for their discovery that peptide bond formation on the ribosome is catalyzed exclusively by ribosomal RNA

Peter B. Moore
Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Yale University
New Haven, CT USA

Harry F. Noller, Jr.
Robert L. Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology
The University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA USA

Thomas A. Steitz
(2009 Nobel Prize)
Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and Chemistry
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Yale University
New Haven, CT USA

29th (1999)

for his research into the molecular foundations of electrical signal generation in neurons and other types of cells

Roderick MacKinnon
(2003 Nobel Prize)
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

28th (1998)

for their outstanding work on the maintenance of telomeres

Elizabeth Blackburn
(2009 Nobel Prize)
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
The University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA USA

Carol Greider
(2009 Nobel Prize)
Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD USA

27th (1997)

for their pioneering studies of cell lineage in the nematode worm

H. Robert Horvitz
(2002 Nobel Prize)
Professor of Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA USA

John E. Sulston
(2002 Nobel Prize)
Director, The Sanger Centre
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton, England

26th (1996)

for establishing the molecular basis of the senses of smell and hearing

Richard Axel
(2004 Nobel Prize)
Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Professor of Pathology
Investigator, Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University School of Medicine
New York, NY USA

Linda B. Buck
(2004 Nobel Prize)
Associate Professor of Neurobiology
Assistant Investigator, Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA USA

A. James Hudspeth
Professor and Head, Laboratory of
Sensory Science
Investigator, Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

25th (1995)

for their fundamental contributions to our understanding of molecular motors

Thomas D. Pollard
Halstead Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD USA

James A. Spudich
Professor of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA USA

24th (1994)

for their outstanding work on eukaryotic transcription regulation

Robert Roeder
Professor and Head, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

Robert Tjian
Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA

23rd (1993)

for determining the components of the secretory pathway

James E. Rothman
(2013 Nobel Prize)
Chair, Cellular Biochemistry and Biophysics Program
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY USA

Randy Schekman
(2013 Nobel Prize)
Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA

22nd (1992)

for establishing the details of the control of eukaryotic cell cycle

Paul Nurse, F.R.S.
(2001 Nobel Prize)

Napier Royal Society Professor of Biochemistry
University of Oxford
Oxford, England

Leland H. Hartwell
(2001 Nobel Prize)
Professor, Department of Genetics
University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA

21st (1991)

for creating the methods by which variations in the human genome can be detected and analyzed

David Botstein
Chairman, Department of Genetics
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA USA

Raymond L. White
Professor of Human Genetics
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT USA

Ronald W. Davis
Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford CA, USA

20th (1990)

for determining the first structure of an integral membrane protein

Richard Henderson, F.R.S.
(2017 Nobel Prize)
Research Staff, Structural Studies Division
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Cambridge, England

Peter Nigel Tripp Unwin, F.R.S.
Research Staff, Division of Neurobiology
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Cambridge, England

19th (1989)

for pioneering studies of eukaryotic development

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
(1995 Nobel Prize)
Director
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
Tübingen, Germany

Edward B. Lewis
(1995 Nobel Prize)
Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor emeritus of Biology
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA USA

18th (1988)

for discovering RNA catalysis

Sidney Altman
(1989 Nobel Prize)
Dean of Yale College
Professor of Biology
Yale University
New Haven, CT USA

Thomas R. Cech
(1989 Nobel Prize)

American Cancer Society Professor
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO USA

17th (1987)

for his innovations in light microscopy

Shinya Inoué
Distinguished Scientist
Marine Biological Laboratory
Woods Hole, MA USA

16th (1986)

for his outstanding work on enzyme function

Harland G. Wood
University Professor emeritus in Biochemistry
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH USA

15th (1985)

for founding modern eukaryotic genetics

Seymour Benzer
James Griffin Boswell Professor of Neuroscience
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA USA

Sydney Brenner
(2002 Nobel Prize)

Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Medical Council Research Centre
University Medical School
Cambridge, England

14th (1984)

for their seminal work on development

Donald D. Brown
Adjunct Professor of Biology and Embryology
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD USA
Staff Member, Department of Embryology
Carnegie Institute of Washington
Cold Spring Harbor, NY USA

Robert L. Letsinger
Professor of Chemistry
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL USA

13th (1983)

for pioneering contributions to sensory transduction

Eric R. Kandel
(2000 Nobel Prize)
University Professor
College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University
New York, NY USA

Daniel E. Koshland, Jr.
Professor of Biochemistry
The University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA

12th (1982)

Keith R. Porter
Professor of Cell Biology
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO USA

Alexander Rich
William Thompson Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA USA

11th (1981)

Stanley Cohen
(1986 Nobel Prize)

Professor of Biochemistry
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN USA

Rita Levi-Montalcini
(1986 Nobel Prize)
Laboratorio di Biologia Cellulare
Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche
Rome, Italy

Gordon H. Sato
Professor of Biology
The University of California, San Diego
San Diego, CA USA

10th (1980)

Elias J. Corey
(1990 Nobel Prize)
Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA USA

Bengt I. Samuelsson
(1982 Nobel Prize)

Dean of Medical Faculty
Kaolinska Institutet
Stockholm, Sweden

Frank H. Westheimer
Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA USA

9th (1979)

Howard Green
Professor of Cell Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA USA

Beatrice Mintz
Senior Member
The Institute for Cancer Research
The Fox Chase Center
Philadelphia, PA USA

8th (1978)

César Milstein
(1984 Nobel Prize)
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Cambridge, England

7th (1977)

Barbara McClintock
(1983 Nobel Prize)

Distinguished Service Member
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Cold Spring Harbor, NY USA

6th (1976)

Peter D. Mitchell
(1978 Nobel Prize)

Glynn Research Laboratories
Bodmin, Cornwall, England

5th (1975)

Bruce Ames
Professor of Biochemistry
The University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA

James A. and Elizabeth C. Miller
Professor of Oncology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI USA

4th (1974)

Arthur B. Pardee
Donner Professor of Science and
Professor of Biochemistry and Biology
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ USA

H. Edwin Umbarger
Wright Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN USA

3rd (1973)

H. Ronald Kaback
Member
Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
Nutley, NJ USA
Rosenstiel Visiting Scholar

Saul Roseman
Professor, Department of Biology
McCollum-Pratt Institute
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD USA

2nd (1972)

Boris Ephrussi
Honorary Director
Centre de Génétique Moléculaire, CNRS
Gif-sur-Yvette, France

1st (1971)

David H. Hubel
(1981 Nobel Prize)
George Packer Berry Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA USA

Torsten N. Wiesel
(1981 Nobel Prize)

Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA USA