Prof. Steve Jackson of the Wellcome Trust/ Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, has won the 2016 Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Medicine, for "his fundamental research into DNA repair in human cells and for the successful application of knowledge of that process in the development of new cancer drugs".
The Heineken Prizes are awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). There are five prizes of $200,000 each, in the fields of Medicine, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Environmental Sciences, Cognitive Science and History. These are the largest international research prizes in the Netherlands and are awarded every other year. The winners are selected by juries consisting of leading international researchers put together by the Academy.
Steve Jackson is the Quick Professor of Biology at the University of Cambridge and head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the Gurdon Institute. "It is a great honour and privilege to receive the 2016 Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Medicine," said Jackson, adding: "I would like to thank all the many dedicated, innovative and highly talented people who have worked in my laboratory, as it is their groundbreaking science that has led to me receiving this award. I also express my deepest thanks to my mentors and inspirational colleagues in the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge University for their invaluable support and advice over the years."
The prize-giving ceremony will take place in September 2016 in Amsterdam's Stock Exchange building, the Beurs van Berlage, now a grand venue for municipal events and conferences.
The Heineken Prizes are named after Dr Henry P. Heineken (1886-1971), Dr Alfred H. Heineken (1923-2002) and Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (1954-). More information about the prizes is available at www.knaw.nl/heinekenprizes.