诺奖热身：CRISPR-CAS技术挺进加拿大盖尔德纳奖

2016年加拿大盖尔德纳奖（Canada Gairdner Awards）的获得者名单，每位获奖者将分别获得10万加元奖金。

今年的7位获奖者中，有5位是目前*热门的CRISPR-CAS技术，另外两位是艾滋病和病毒感染方面的学者，华人科学家张峰排**位。当然如果能获得诺贝尔奖，*多他们中只有3位入围。

Recipientof the Canada Gairdner International Award, 2016

"fordevelopment of CRISPR-CAS as a genome editing tool for eukaryotic cells"

CoreMember, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Investigator, McGovern Institutefor Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; W. M. Keck CareerDevelopment Professor in Biomedical Engineering, Departments of Brain andCognitive Sciences and of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology; Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Robertson Investigator, New YorkStem Cell Foundation

FengZhang is a Core Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, anInvestigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, and anAssistant Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He wasborn in Shijiazhuang (Hebei Province, China) in 1981 and moved to Des Moines,Iowa in 1993. His introduction to engineering biological tools for mammaliansystems began as a sophomore in high school with an opportunity to intern inthe gene therapy lab of John Levy in Des Moines, Iowa. He obtained an A.B. inChemistry and Physics from Harvard University in 2004 working with XiaoweiZhuang. As a PhD student in the Chemistry Department at Stanford University,Zhang worked with Karl Deisseroth to develop optogenetics technologies fordissecting brain circuits, using light-sensitive proteins from microbes to enablecontrol of neuronal activity in living organisms with light. After finishinghis Ph.D. in 2009, Feng joined the Harvard Society of Fellows as a JuniorFellow (2009-2010), focusing on developing gene editing tools based ontranscription activator-like effectors (TALEs). In 2011, Zhang began his ownlaboratory at the Broad and McGovern Institutes, where he harnessed CRISPR-Cassystems for gene editing in eukaryotic cells. His lab continues to play acritical role in the development of gene editing technologies and applicationsthat are accelerating research around the world.

CurrentWinners

FengZhang

CanadaGairdner International Award

"fordevelopment of CRISPR-CAS as a genome editing tool for eukaryotic cells"

Jennifer Doudna

CanadaGairdner International Award

"fordevelopment of CRISPR-CAS as a genome editing tool for eukaryotic cells"

Emmanuelle Charpentier

Canada Gairdner International Award

"for development of CRISPR-CAS as a genome editing toolfor eukaryotic cells"

Philippe Horvath

CanadaGairdner International Award

" forestablishing and characterizing CRISPR-Cas bacterial immune defensesystem"

Rodolphe Barrangou

CanadaGairdner International Award

"forestablishing and characterizing CRISPR-Cas bacterial immune defensesystem"

Anthony Fauci

CanadaGairdner Global Health Award

"forhis many pioneering contributions to our understanding of HIV infections andhis extraordinary leadership in bringing successful treatment to the developingworld"

Frank Plummer

CanadaGairdner Wightman Award

"forhis groundbreaking research in Africa in understanding HIV transmission and hisleadership at the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory with pivotal rolesin SARS, influenza and Ebola epidemics"