CSH Scientist Receives $3M 'Oscar Of Science' Award

A Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientist was recently awarded one of the wold's most generous science prizes known as the "Oscar of Science" for his groundbreaking research.

Dr. Adrian Krainer was recognized by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation for developing the first therapy for children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the leading genetic cause of infant death.

“For me, this wonderful prize means recognition about the importance of basic research and its great potential to help people,” Krainer said in a statement.

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation and its sponsors – Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Ma Huateng, Yuri and Julia Milner and Anne Wojcicki – announced Krainer as one of the seven 2019 prize winners who would receive $3 million each, or $22 million collectively, for important achievements in the Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics. Krainer received the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

The recipients will be recognized at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, or the “Oscars of Science,” on Sunday, Nov. 4.

Krainer, a biochemist, and Frank Bennett, a pharmacologist, produced the first drug to treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is the leading genetic cause of infant death. The drug, Nusinersen, was approved by the FDA in 2016 and is one of the first of a promising new breed of antisense therapies now in development for familial dysautonomia, glioblastoma and liver cancer. The work of Krainer and Bennett has opened new doors for treatments for Huntington’s, ALS, spinocerebellar ataxias, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Image of Krainer/Credit: Kathy Kmonicek, 2016, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory