Author: Christine Ongsueng

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4 Elected 2022 AAAS Fellows

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Four Harvard Medical School researchers have been elected by their peers as 2022 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for their contributions to medical sciences. They are among the more than 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators around the world and across scientific disciplines who are being recognized for their scientific and socially notable achievements during the past year. The 2022 AAAS fellows from HMS are:  Stephen Buratowski, HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, for his research into the mechanisms of eukaryotic gene expression. […]

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Unseen Paul McCartney photos to reopen National Portrait Gallery

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Sir Paul McCartney’s artistic talents are finally being brought out from the shadow cast by his late wife and children. His photographic skills have emerged in a series of unseen photographs he took in the early 1960s when The Beatles were on the verge of exploding onto the international scene. The musician approached the National Portrait Gallery in 2020 having discovered in his archive the batch of photographs he took in 1963 and 1964. They will be displayed for the first time in one of the first exhibitions due to be held at the gallery when it reopens this June after a three-year renovation. Cullinan said there would be 20 percent more public space and that while the “best known and much-loved portraits” would remain on display, there would be a “greater variety and richness in what we show and how we show”. It has secured the support of a number of new donors including Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the Ukrainian-born businessman who is one of the wealthiest people in the world and who has donated tens of millions of pounds to British cultural institutions in the past decade.  […]

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National Portrait Gallery announces line up of major exhibitions to mark its reopening in June 2023

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Today, the National Portrait Gallery announced that after the largest redevelopment in its history, its doors will reopen again on 22 June 2023, with a programme of major exhibitions. The transformational Inspiring People project has been made possible by major grants from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Ross Foundation. In addition to the Gallery’s year-long programme of exhibitions, visitors to the new Gallery will experience a complete redisplay of the Collection and a transformational refurbishment of the building, as well as an enhanced welcome and greater access through the new Ross Place entrance. The designs, by Jamie Fobert Architects working in partnership with Purcell, will also see the return of the Gallery’s East Wing to public use as the Weston Wing, restoring original gallery spaces and creating new retail and catering facilities. The first floor will become The Blavatnik Wing, encompassing nine galleries, which will explore society and culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries. […]

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Dark energy ‘chameleon trap’ wins £100,000 prize for Nottingham scientist

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Ingeniously simple lab experiment led by Prof Clare Burrage recognised by Blavatnik awards. Dark energy is the enigma at the heart of modern physics: the universe is supposed to be awash with the stuff, but it has never been seen and its nature is unknown. When faced with a mystery of such epic proportions, simply eliminating certain options is considered a success. This week such an advance, using an ingeniously simple desktop experiment, was recognised by the prestigious Blavatnik award for young scientists. Prof Clare Burrage, of the University of Nottingham and recipient of the £100,000 prize, said: “We don’t know what dark energy is. It’s the name we give to something we don’t understand so we can start talking about it. And when so little is known, even ruling things out feels like big progress.” […]

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Dr Katie Doores receives esteemed Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists

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Today, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences announced the recipients of the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom. Now in its sixth year, the Awards are the largest unrestricted prize available to UK scientists aged 42 or younger. As a Virologist and Immunologist, Dr Katie Doores studies how the immune system responds to infection to inform the development of vaccines against biomedically important viruses. Through this research she aims to aid our preparedness for potential future pandemics. Specialising in virology, immunology, and glycobiology (the study of the structure, biosynthesis, and biology of carbohydrates), Katie was recognised for paradigm-shifting discoveries in the characterisation of antibody responses to viral infections, including the persistent and acute human infections HIV-1, hantaviruses, phleboviruses, and SARS-CoV-2. […]

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Nottingham Professor joins all female winners of prestigious young scientist award

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A Nottingham Professor has been recognised for her research into dark energy in the Universe with a young scientist award from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences. Professor Clare Burrage from the University of Nottingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy has been awarded the Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering. This is the first time in the history of the Blavatnik Awards in the UK that all three Laureates are women scientists.Now in its sixth year, the Awards are the largest unrestricted prize available to UK scientists aged 42 or younger. Internationally recognised among the scientific community, the Blavatnik Awards are instrumental in expanding the engagement and recognition of young scientists, and are providing the support and encouragement needed to drive scientific innovation for the next generation. […]

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Two UCL academics named Blavatnik Award finalists for emerging scientific talent

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Dr Andrew Saxe (UCL Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit and Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL) and Professor Jade Alglave (UCL Computer Science) are among nine finalists in the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. As Blavatnik Awards UK Finalists, both Dr Saxe and Professor Alglave will be granted a £30,000 cash prize at an award ceremony next month in Whitehall, London. Dr Saxe and Professor Alglave will also give scientific talks at a free public symposium at The RSA (Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) on Wednesday 1st March 2023. The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK are supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and independently administered by the New York Academy of Sciences. […]

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Susan Perkin Honoured in Annual Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

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Fellow and Tutor in Chemistry Susan Perkin, has been named Award Laureate in the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. The award comes in recognition of her experimental work using a custom-built instrument – known as the Surface Force Balance – to determine the properties of fluids. Professor Perkin said: ‘I was amazed and delighted to hear the news of this wonderful award. I look forward to the opportunity it will bring to share my fascination with the microscopic interactions and processes that determine properties of materials all around us.’ The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and administered by the New York Academy of Sciences, celebrate the past accomplishments and future potential of the UK’s most innovative young scientists and engineers. The 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK received 77 nominations from 43 academic and research institutions across the UK. […]

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Nine UK-based Scientists Receive the Esteemed Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK

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18 January 2023—London, UK: Today, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences have announced the recipients of the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom. Now in its sixth year, the Awards are the largest unrestricted prize available to UK scientists aged 42 or younger. Internationally recognised among the scientific community, the Blavatnik Awards are instrumental in expanding the engagement and recognition of young scientists, and are providing the support and encouragement needed to drive scientific innovation for the next generation. This year’s Laureates, who will each receive £100,000 in unrestricted funds, are: 

Susan Perkin, DPhil (Chemistry)—University of Oxford
Clare Burrage, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering)—University of Nottingham
Katie Doores, DPhil (Life Sciences)—King’s College London

It is the first time in the history of the Blavatnik Awards in the UK that all three Laureates are women scientists. […]

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Professor Ehud Gazit Elected Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors

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Prof. Ehud Gazit of Tel Aviv University was recently elected as a Fellow of the United States National Academy of Inventors (NIA). The appointment to the rank of NIA Fellow is the highest recognition given by the Academy, awarded to innovators whose inventions have had a decisive impact on quality of life, economic development, and social welfare. Prof. Ehud Gazit is a Full Professor at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research in the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University. In addition, he is incumbent of the Chair of the Biotechnology of Degenerative Diseases, a member of the university’s Executive Committee, and the Founding Director of the Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery. Two drugs he developed are in human trials, many others are in model-based drug development, and a food supplement he co-developed is currently sold in the US. […]

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