News Release

Science Magazine And Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Honor Young Biologists

Grant and Award Announcement

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Washington, DC - Four young scientists have unlocked diverse mysteries, from how bacteria resist certain antibiotics to what triggers a severe birth defect that affects brain development. Their accomplishments have earned them the prestigious Pharmacia Biotech & Science Prize for 1997, given for outstanding achievements by doctoral students from all regions of the world. The winners will be honored on 9 December in Uppsala, Sweden, in a ceremony that coincides with the Nobel Prize festivities. The grand prize winner's essay will appear in the 5 December issue of Science.

"The Pharmacia Biotech & Science Prize recognizes the innovative ideas and hard work of graduate students, who so often provide the momentum for major discoveries in molecular biology," said Thomas Cech, the chair of the judging panel. He discussed the high quality of the work by the top applicants in the past three years: "It cuts across differences in country and continent, gender and ethnicity." Cech also is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado as well as an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a deputy editor for Science magazine.

Applicants earned their Ph.D. in 1996 and submitted a 1,000-word essay based on their dissertations. They were judged on the quality of their research and their ability to articulate how their work contributes to the field of molecular biology. The judging panel can present awards in four different geographical areas (North America, Europe, Japan, and all other countries). The regional winners each receive $5,000; a grand prize winner is selected from the pool of regional winners and receives $20,000. This year's winners are as follows (biographies attached):

  • Christine Jacobs, the grand prize winner: Currently at Stanford University, she graduated from the University of Liège in Belgium. She is originally from Grâce-Hollogne, a suburb of Liège, Belgium. She discovered how bacteria know when to protect themselves against antibiotics, which should be very helpful in developing more efficient treatments for infections.

  • James E. Brownell: Currently working for Genentech in San Francisco, he graduated from Syracuse University and conducted research in Rochester, New York. He's originally from Syracuse, New York. He determined what triggers an important genetic function that lets genes do what they need to do.

  • Georg Halder: Currently at University of Wisconsin in Madison, he graduated from the University of Basel in Switzerland. He's originally from Füllinsdorf, a small village near Basel. He found a "master control gene" that activates the program that directs the entire development of an eye. Halder's research not only showed that manipulating this gene can create working eyes in other parts of a fruit fly, such as on the wings, but also revealed new information about our evolutionary past.

  • Mitsuharu Hattori: Currently at Harvard University, he graduated from the University of Tokyo. He's originally from Kuwana, a small city near Nagoya, Japan. He discovered that certain enzyme--until now thought to have nothing to do with brain development--plays a key role in a severe birth defect that causes profound mental retardation.

The Pharmacia Biotech & Science Prize for Young Scientists has been established to provide support to scientists at the beginning of their careers because both organizations believe that such is critical for continued scientific progress. Information on the prize and copies of the winning essays will be posted on Science Online (http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/pharmacia/1997.shl) and will be available on December 5.

"As the largest research-based biotechnology supplier, we are committed to fostering innovation and discovery among today's young scientists and the Pharmacia Biotech and Science Prize enables us to support these scientists as they begin their professional careers," said Julian Stubbs, vice president, corporate affairs and marketing programs, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech.

Science is an international journal that covers all scientific disciplines. It is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general science organization. Last year, Science published the largest number of highly cited research papers to appear in a single journal, including ten of the top 33 papers of 1996 as listed by the Institute for Scientific Information. In 1995, Science teamed up with the international company Pharmacia Biotech to honor annually those young scientists whose Ph.D. dissertations had a major impact on the study of molecular biology (which investigates biological processes in terms of the physical and chemical properties of molecules in a cell.)

Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, created through the merger of the life science divisions of Amersham International plc and Pharmacia & Upjohn, is the world's largest research-based biotechnology supplier. The company is focused on developing proprietary systems solutions, including matrix/polymer chemistry, high throughput sequencing, drug screening and microarray technologies for various applications for research customers at leading academic centers and pharmaceutical, genetic, diagnostic and biotechnology companies. Headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech has annual sales of $700 million and approximately 3,600 employees worldwide.

For a final copy of the winning essays, please contact the AAAS News & Information Office at 202-326-6440 (phone) or email scipak@aaas.org.

Press releases in Dutch, Flemish, and Japanese are available by contacting Diane Dondershine at 202-326-6421 or ddonders@aaas.org.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.