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Prestigious Research Prize for Michael N. Hall
On 25 March 2015, the five winners of this year’s “Canada Gairdner International Award” were announced. One of the laureates is Prof. Michael N. Hall from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. The award recognizes his discovery of the protein kinase TOR (Target of Rapamycin) and its role as a key regulator of cell growth. With this prize, endowed with CAD 100,000, the Gairdner Foundation each year recognizes research scientists for their groundbreaking discoveries in the medical sciences.
25 March 2015
The series of successes of Michael N. Hall, professor of biochemistry at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, continues. In 2009, he received the Louis-Jeantet Prize, the most prestigious award for European medical science. Three years later he was awarded the highest Swiss distinction, the Marcel Benoist Prize. With the announcement of the “Oscars of Science” – the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences – last year, he received world-wide recognition for his fundamental scientific discoveries in the field of cell biology.
Now he can count the “Canada Gairdner International Award”, one of the most important international prizes in science, among his impressive collection of awards. This year, the Gairdner Foundation is honoring five scientists for their medically significant discoveries with its award endowed with the equivalent of approximately CHF 75,000.
Highest level biomedical research
For almost 30 years, Michael N. Hall has been working at the Biozentrum. Here he discovered the protein kinase TOR (Target of Rapamycin) and its role in cell growth control. “It all began when we found the molecular target of the immunosuppressive and anticancer drug rapamycin,” explains Hall, describing the early days of his research. “Unexpectedly, it then became obvious that this protein kinase is a key player in regulating cell growth in various ways.”
The discovery of TOR was not only a major milestone in basic research but also proved to be of clinical relevance. “TOR has also been implicated in aging and in a wide variety of diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease,” says Hall. “I am eager to see whether newly developed TOR inhibitors are effective and will provide better treatment options for cancer patients.”
Formal award presentation
With the prize from the Gairdner Foundation, Hall once again receives one of the highest acknowledgments for his excellent and comprehensive research, reaching from the discovery to the elucidation of the importance of TOR for cell growth and metabolism and further to providing answers to medical issues. “There is no greater reward for a scientist than to have his work recognized by his peers – and this is what the Gairdner Award is,” says Hall clearly excited by the distinction. The formal prize presentation will take place on 29 October 2015, at a ceremony in Toronto, Canada.
The research award
The Canada Gairdner Awards were created in 1959 to recognize and reward the achievements of researchers whose work contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life. The prize is awarded annually and the winners are selected by an international committee. During its history, the prize has also been previously awarded to two scientists from the Biozentrum: In 1987 to Prof. em. Walter Gehring and in 1998 to Prof. em. Gottfried Schatz.
Further Information
Prof. Dr. Michael N. Hall, University of Basel, Biozentrum, phone +41 61 267 21 50, email: m.hall@unibas.ch
Illustration
A photograph of Michael N. Hall is available in the media database
Award-winning researcher
Michael N. Hall was born in 1953 in Puerto Rico (United States) and has conducted research for over 25 years at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. His childhood and youth were spent in Venezuela and Peru. After studying molecular biology, he graduated with his doctorate in 1981 from Harvard University in the USA. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, and the University of California in San Francisco.
In 1987, the Swiss-American dual citizen accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and is a full Professor of Biochemistry since 1992. During this time, he served for numerous years as the Head of the Division of Biochemistry and as the Vice-Director of the Biozentrum. In the course of his scientific career, Michael Hall has been distinguished with numerous awards including the Clöetta Prize for Biomedical Research (2003), the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2009), the Marcel Benoist Prize (2012) as well as the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2014). He is a member of various renowned scientific associations and serves as an editor for scientific journals. In addition, he is currently the Director of the Basel Signaling Alliance, a center of excellence, at the University of Basel.
