
AsianScientist (Dec. 4, 2017) – Professor Kazutoshi Mori, famous for his research on the unfolded protein response, has been awarded the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Since its inception in 2012, the Breakthrough Prize has awarded close to US$200 million to honor paradigm-shifting research in the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics. This year, a total of seven US$3 million prizes will be awarded, in addition to six US$100,000 New Horizons in Physics and Mathematics Prizes for early-career researchers and a total of US$400,000 for the winner of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge.
“The Breakthrough Prize was created to celebrate the achievements of scientists, physicists, and mathematicians, whose genius help us understand our world, and whose advances shape our future,” said Breakthrough Prize co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg. “The world needs their inspiration, and their reminder that even though it doesn’t always feel that way, we are making steady progress toward building a better future for everyone.”
The 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences will be awarded to Joanne Chory (Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Howard Hughes Medical Institute), Don W. Cleveland (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at University of California, San Diego), Kazutoshi Mori (Kyoto University), Kim Nasmyth (University of Oxford) and Peter Walter (University of California, San Francisco).
The 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics will be awarded to Charles L. Bennett (Johns Hopkins University), Gary Hinshaw (University of British Columbia), Norman Jarosik (Princeton University), Lyman Page Jr. (Princeton University), and David N. Spergel (Princeton University).
The 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics will be awarded to Christopher Hacon (University of Utah) and James McKernan (University of California, San Diego).
The New Horizons in Physics Prize is awarded to: Christopher Hirata (Ohio State University), Andrea Young (University of California, Santa Barbara), and Douglas Stanford (Institute for Advanced Study and Stanford University).
The New Horizons in Mathematics Prize is awarded to: Aaron Naber (Northwestern University), Maryna Viazovska (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Zhiwei Yun (Yale University), and Wei Zhang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University).
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global science video competition designed to inspire creative thinking about fundamental concepts in the life sciences, physics, and mathematics. In recognition of her winning submission, Hillary Diane Andales receives a scholarship worth up to US$250,000, another US$50,000 for the science teacher who inspired her, and a state-of-the-art science lab valued at US$100,000 designed by and in partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
This was Andales’ second time in the competition, and last year, she was the Top Scorer in the Popular Vote, a segment of the contest that allows the public to vote for their favorites online. As the Top Scorer in the Popular Vote, she won a DNA molecular biology laboratory as her school recovered from damage by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. This year, her overall victory in the competition will secure for her school a Fabrication/Physics/Design/Innovation Lab.
More than 11,000 entries from 178 countries were received in the 2017 installment of the global competition, which kicked off on September 1, 2017. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Yuri and Julia Milner, through the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, based on a grant from Mark Zuckerberg’s fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation a grant from the Milner Global Foundation.
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Source: Breakthrough Prize.
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