Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research
Jewish recipients of the Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research documented in the ThankJews directory. Jews are about 30% of all recipients — while making up roughly 0.2% of the world's population.
52 documented recipients
Selman Waksman1943
Streptomycin (first antibiotic for TB), discovered in his Rutgers laboratory; coined the term antibiotics; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952
Source: Wikipedia — Selman Waksman
Hans Krebs1953
Discovery of the citric acid cycle (Krebs cycle) in cellular metabolism
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Medicine 1953
Michael Heidelberger1888
Regarded as the father of modern immunochemistry for quantifying the antibody-antigen reaction.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
George Wald1906
Awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize for discovering the biochemical processes of vision in the retina.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Karl Meyer1899
Biochemist who discovered hyaluronidase and studied connective-tissue chemistry
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biomedical Science
Theodore Puck1916
Geneticist who developed methods to grow and clone single mammalian cells, founding somatic cell genetics.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat1910
Virologist who reconstituted infectious tobacco mosaic virus from its separated protein and RNA.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Jules Freund1890
Immunologist who developed Freund's adjuvant, a widely used booster of immune response.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Harry Rubin1926
Virologist known for work on Rous sarcoma virus and cancer cell biology
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biomedical Science
Bernard Brodie1907
Pharmacologist widely regarded as the father of modern drug metabolism research.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Marshall Nirenberg1968
Genetic Code
Source: Nobel Prize Medicine 1968
Seymour Benzer1921
Molecular biologist who mapped the fine structure of the gene and pioneered the genetics of behavior using fruit flies.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Sydney Brenner2002
Helped establish messenger RNA and the triplet genetic code, and made the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans a model for the genetics of development; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
Source: Wikipedia — Sydney Brenner / NobelPrize.org Medicine 2002
Charles Yanofsky1925
Geneticist who demonstrated the colinearity of a gene and the protein it encodes.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Ludwik Gross1904
Pioneer of viral oncology who showed that viruses can transmit cancer in mammals.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Sol Spiegelman1914
Molecular biologist who developed nucleic acid hybridization, a foundational technique in genetics.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Howard Temin1975
Proposed the DNA provirus hypothesis (1964) and co-discovered reverse transcriptase (1970), showing that genetic information can flow from RNA to DNA; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975
Source: Wikipedia — Howard Martin Temin / NobelPrize.org Medicine 1975
Rosalyn Yalow1977
Developed radioimmunoassay with Solomon Berson, a way of measuring minute amounts of hormones in the blood, which they chose not to patent; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
Source: Wikipedia — Rosalyn Sussman Yalow / NobelPrize.org Medicine 1977
John Vane1927
Awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize for discovering how aspirin works and the biology of prostaglandins.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Hans Kosterlitz1903
Pharmacologist who co-discovered the enkephalins, the brain's natural opioids.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Solomon Snyder1938
Neuroscientist who identified opiate receptors in the brain, transforming neuropharmacology.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Walter Gilbert1980
DNA Sequencing
Source: Nobel Prize Chemistry 1980
Paul Berg1972
Biochemist who made the first recombinant DNA molecule in 1972, the starting point of genetic engineering, and organized the 1975 Asilomar conference on its safety; Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980
Source: Wikipedia — Paul Berg / NobelPrize.org Chemistry 1980
Stanley N. Cohen1935
Geneticist who co-invented recombinant DNA technology using plasmids, founding genetic engineering
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biomedical Science
Harold Varmus1989
With Michael Bishop showed that retroviral oncogenes derive from normal cellular genes (proto-oncogenes), Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989; director of the NIH 1993–1999 and of the National…
Source: Wikipedia — Harold E. Varmus / NobelPrize.org Medicine 1989
Eric Kandel2000
Showed in the sea snail Aplysia how learning changes synapses and how short- and long-term memories are stored; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000
Source: Wikipedia — Eric Kandel / NobelPrize.org Medicine 2000
César Milstein1927
Awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize for developing the technique to produce monoclonal antibodies.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Michael S. Brown1941
Awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize for discovering the LDL receptor and the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Joseph Goldstein1940
With Michael Brown discovered the LDL receptor (1973) and how cells regulate cholesterol, the scientific basis of statin drugs; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1985
Source: Wikipedia — Joseph L. Goldstein / NobelPrize.org Medicine 1985
Rita Levi-Montalcini1986
Discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF), first isolated in 1952; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986; senator for life of Italy from 2001
Source: Wikipedia — Rita Levi-Montalcini / NobelPrize.org Medicine 1986
Stanley Cohen1986
Growth Factors
Source: Nobel Prize Medicine 1986
Philip Leder1989
Helped crack the genetic code and pioneered antibody genetics; National Medal of Science (1989)
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish recipients of the US National Medal of Science
Alfred Gilman1941
Awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize for the discovery of G-proteins and their role in cellular signal transduction.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Stanley Prusiner1997
Discovered prions, infectious agents made of misfolded protein alone, the cause of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and scrapie; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1997
Source: Wikipedia — Stanley Prusiner / NobelPrize.org Medicine 1997
Jack Strominger1925
Biochemist who determined the structure of the human MHC molecules central to immune recognition.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Robert Furchgott1916
Awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize for discovering nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Mark Ptashne1940
Molecular biologist who first isolated a gene repressor, revealing how genes are switched on and off.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Aaron Ciechanover2004
Discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Chemistry 2004
Avram Hershko2004
Discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Chemistry 2004
Alexander Varshavsky1946
Biologist who discovered the ubiquitin system's N-end rule governing protein lifespan.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
James Rothman1950
Biochemist who uncovered the protein machinery of the SNAREs that lets vesicles dock and fuse with their targets inside cells; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013
Source: Wikipedia — James Rothman
Randy Schekman1948
Cell biologist who used yeast genetics to find the genes that govern vesicle traffic and protein secretion in cells; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013
Source: Wikipedia — Randy Schekman
Pierre Chambon1931
Molecular biologist who discovered split genes and pioneered the study of nuclear hormone receptors.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Ronald M. Evans1949
Molecular biologist who discovered the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors governing gene expression.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Ralph Steinman1943
Immunologist who discovered the dendritic cell in 1973 and showed how it switches on adaptive immunity; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011
Source: Wikipedia — Ralph Steinman
Gary Ruvkun1952
Molecular biologist who, with Victor Ambros, discovered microRNA and its role in gene regulation, and showed in 2000 that the second microRNA, let-7, is conserved across animals; Nobel Prize in…
Source: Wikipedia — Gary Ruvkun / NobelPrize.org Medicine 2024
Jeffrey Friedman1954
Molecular geneticist who discovered leptin, the hormone that regulates appetite and body weight.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Arthur Horwich1951
Biologist who discovered chaperonins, the cellular machines that fold proteins.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Ronald Vale1959
Cell biologist who discovered kinesin, a motor protein that transports cargo within cells.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Evelyn Witkin1921
Geneticist who discovered the bacterial SOS response and advanced the study of DNA repair.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
Michael N. Hall2023
Discovered the TOR pathway governing cell growth; Grande Médaille (2023); Jewish mother
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish recipients of the Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences
Michael Grunstein1946
Molecular biologist who showed histones regulate gene expression
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biomedical Science