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2025 Laureates of the Prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel Announced

Three scientists from Israeli universities will each be awarded US$100,000 for their groundbreaking scientific research.

Jerusalem, May 6, 2025 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and The New York Academy of Sciences announced today the Laureates of the prestigious 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel. This year’s Laureates, who will each receive US$100,000, are:


Yonatan Stelzer, PhD (Life Sciences) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for breakthroughs in modeling the intricate process of mammalian embryonic development and for advancing our understanding of epigenetics, holding significant promise for regenerative and therapeutic medicine.


Benjamin Palmer, PhD (Chemical Sciences) – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Recognized for pioneering research on how organisms create crystals, revealing the biological processes underlying their formation and the unique ways they interact with light, leading to the emerging field of organic biomineralization and inspiring sustainable optical materials.


Chaim Garfinkel, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Recognized for advancing our ability to predict climate change on timescales from months to decades, improving weather forecast systems and providing critical insights for climate policy and adaptation strategies.

The Blavatnik Awards recognize outstanding, innovative scientists at the early stages of their careers for their extraordinary achievements as well as their potential for future discoveries. The prizes are awarded to researchers aged 42 and younger for groundbreaking work in Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences & Engineering.

The 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel will be conferred at a ceremony in June 2025 at the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists are the largest unrestricted prizes available to scientists in Israel aged 42 or younger. Since launching in 2017, scientists honored by the Blavatnik Awards in Israel have received US$2.7 million in prize money. Internationally recognized by the scientific community, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists are instrumental in expanding the engagement and recognition of young scientists and providing the support and encouragement needed to drive scientific innovation for the next generation. By the close of 2025, the Blavatnik Awards will have recognized 540 scientists from 120 international research institutions and awarded prizes totaling nearly $20 million.

“The brilliant, young minds we honor with these awards are examples of the enormous ingenuity and creativity that has made Israel a powerhouse of scientific progress,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation.  “We are proud to celebrate their achievements and to support their continued success.”

Professor Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, said, “We are excited to see international representation in this year’s Laureates with our first Blavatnik Awards Israel Laureate from the UK. This international dimension highlights the global nature of scientific pursuit and collaboration in highly promising and vitally important interdisciplinary fields including epigenetics, biomineralization, and atmospheric science.”

Professor David Harel, President of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities said, “Today we honor the exceptional achievements of Israel’s very best scientists. This is especially important at the present time, with Israel going through one of its worst periods, exacerbated by unprecedented obstacles for science, both here in Israel and in the US. In this light, we are even more grateful to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences for our continued partnership in this endeavor. Maintaining Israel’s position at the forefront of global science, which is crucial for its security and economic stability, relies upon supporting and encouraging its scientists. We are proud to honor this year’s Blavatnik Awards Laureates, and we celebrate their innovative breakthroughs with confidence in the far-reaching, positive impact of their achievements on society at large.”

During the nomination period for the 2025 Blavatnik Awards, 36 nominations were received from seven universities across Israel. Members of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council – which includes Nobel Laureates Professors Aaron Ciechanover, David Gross and Sir Richard Roberts, along with former Chairman of the Israel Space Agency, Professor Isaac Ben-Israel – were also invited to submit nominations. Three juries, composed of distinguished leading scientists representing the three disciplinary categories and led by Israel Academy members, selected the 2025 Laureates.

Blavatnik scholars are driving economic growth globally by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 50 companies after receiving the award, six of which are publicly traded and collectively valued at over $12 billion.

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists 

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, began by identifying outstanding post-doctoral scientists in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In 2014, the Blavatnik National Awards were created to recognize faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States. In 2017, the Awards were further expanded to honor faculty-rank scientists in the UK and Israel. For updates about the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, please visit www.blavatnikawards.org or follow us on X and Facebook @BlavatnikAwards.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation 

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

About The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities is Israel’s flagship scientific institution. It was established by law in 1961 and acts as a national focal point for Israeli scholarship in all branches of the sciences, social sciences and humanities. The Academy’s membership comprises 152 of Israel’s most distinguished scientists and scholars in its two divisions – the Natural Sciences Division and the Humanities Division. It is tasked with promoting Israeli scientific excellence, advising the government on scientific matters of national interest, publishing scholarly research of lasting merit and maintaining active contact with the broader international scientific and scholarly community. For more information about The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, please visit www.academy.ac.il.

The Academy Recognizes Yann LeCun for Advancing AI

Yann LeCun, VP and Chief AI Scientist at Meta, was one of three Honorees recently recognized by The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) for outstanding contributions to science.

Published May 1, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

Yann LeCun (right) poses with his wife Isabelle during the Soirée.

Yann LeCun was recently recognized by The New York Academy of Sciences, for his pioneering work in machine learning, computer vision, mobile robotics, and computational neuroscience. He was presented with the Academy’s inaugural Trailblazer Award during the 2025 Spring Soirée, hosted at the University Club of New York.

“His work has been instrumental in setting the terms of how we think about the uses, implications, and impact of AI in all its forms,” said Nick Dirks, President and CEO of the Academy, while introducing LeCun during the Soirée. “Yann, we’re grateful that your view has carried the day and are inspired by the boldness of your vision. A vision that has shaped the evolution of this amazing and transformative technology.”

LeCun, a Turing Laureate, who also serves as the Jacob T. Schwartz Professor of Computer Science for the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, has been called everything from a “pioneer” to a “godfather” within the field of AI. His connection with the Academy dates back several years when he and Manuela Veloso, Head of AI Research at J.P. Morgan, “agreed to serve as honorary chairs for the launch of a new initiative on applications of AI to critical sectors of the New York City economy.”

Tata Series on AI & Society

LeCun spoke during the first installment of the Tata Series on AI & Society at the Academy in March 2024. His talk covered everything from his early work in revitalizing and advancing neural networks to the need for open sourcing AI to the limitations he sees with large language models (LLMs). He believes that sensory, as opposed to language, inputs are more effective for building better AI systems, due in part to the brain’s ability to process these inputs faster.

Yann LeCun (center) visits with Hon. Jerry Hultin, immediate past chair of The New York Academy of Sciences Board of Governors, during the Soirée.

“To build truly intelligent systems, they’d need to understand the physical world, be able to reason, plan, remember, and retrieve. The architecture of future systems that will be capable of doing this will be very different from current large language models,” he explained.

LeCun was presented with an Honorary Life Membership to the Academy during the 2024 event.

A Frenchman with a Clever Sense of Humor and Passion for Jazz

Though a serious computer scientist (he received the prestigious ACM Turing Award in 2018), his wry sense of humor often comes through when he talks and on his personal website.

“French people are generally known for their utter contempt of every product of the American culture (“or lack thereof”, as my friend John Denker would say with a smile),” LeCun writes on the “Fun Stuff” section of his website. “But there are two notable exceptions to this attitude, two pure products of the American culture that the French have embraced wholeheartedly (and no, one of them is not Jerry Lewis): Jazz music, and Tex Avery cartoons.”

A fan of jazz music, LeCun considers John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue among his favorite jazz albums of all time. LeCun is a musician himself and plays various woodwind instruments. He even builds his own that combine traditional wind instruments with electronic synthesizers. When he worked at Bell Labs in the 1990s, he played in an informal jazz band with some colleagues. The passion for jazz (and tech) runs in the blood of the LeCun family, as Yann’s brother Bertrand plays the bass (and works at Google in Paris).

From left: Peter Salovey, former president of Yale University and current chair of The New York Academy of Sciences Board of Governors; Yann LeCun, VP and Chief AI Scientist at Meta; and Nick Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences.

“I have always been interested in jazz because I have always been intrigued by the intellectual challenge of improvising music in real time,” he writes on his website.

Humble in nature—on his website he lists himself as an ACM Turing Award Laureate, but in a parenthetical note next to it indicates “(sounds like I’m bragging, but a condition of accepting the award is to write this next to your name)” —he was nonetheless appreciative of this recent recognition and the broader power of science.

“I like jazz so I’m fond of improvising speeches,” LeCun said when he took to the stage to accept his award, adding that he didn’t use AI to write his speech. “I’ve become a public advocate of science and rationalism. It’s true that today there’s been a lot of attacks against universities, rationalism, science, and scientists. All are being vilified by our own government. We have to stand up for science.”

Recognizing the STEM Teacher and Mentor of the Year

This year’s award-winning teacher-mentor duo has been inspiring young minds and promoting STEM education for three years. They were recently honored by The New York Academy of Sciences for their work.

Published April 30, 2025

By Brooke Elliott
Education Communications Intern

Megan C. Henriquez (left) and Brittany Beck pose with their awards during the Spring Soirée hosted at the University Club of New York on April 22, 2025.

The New York Academy of Sciences’ (the Academy’s) Scientist-in-Residence (SiR) program was proud to announce this year’s STEM Teacher of the Year: Brittany Beck, biology teacher at the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology; and Mentor of the Year: Megan C. Henriquez, who just defended her PhD in biological anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center in April and will graduate in June.

A Queens native, Henriquez’s interest in STEM began when she was a kid. She remembers coming home from school and watching wildlife documentaries. “Those shows made studying wildlife seem so exciting and foreign, and yet so out of reach for a city kid like me” she recalled. “But through a network of mentorship and opportunity, I ended up becoming a wildlife ecologist doing field work in some of the most remote parts of the world.”

Brittany Beck grew up in rural Missouri. She completed her undergraduate degree in biology and her master’s in science education at Truman State University in Missouri. She has been teaching biology in NYC public schools for 14 years, with 13 of those years at the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology. Additionally, she serves as Coordinator of Student Activities, running the Student Government, managing over 30 clubs, and overseeing school events.

This is Beck’s fourth year as a teacher in the SiR program, working with scientists and building novel research projects with her students. Henriquez started working with the program about three years ago as a way to provide students with the same experiences and opportunities that inspired her interest in STEM in her youth.

Engaging Young Minds

Beck considers herself both a scientist and a teacher. Before joining the Scientist-in-Residence program, she was a national Evolution Education fellow in a program where she developed live organism research experiments for her classes alongside scientists at the University of Virginia and the Mountain Lake Biological Station. During that program, she developed a protocol in which students spend a year caring for mealworms, pupae, and darkling beetles in different treatments of Styrofoam to see how these treatments affect their growth and development. When the formal evolution education program ended, she continued this important work with students through the Academy’s SiR program.

Brittany Beck poses with Nick Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, during the Spring Soirée hosted at the University Club of New York on April 22, 2025.

What makes Beck and Henriquez such a good team? Trust in not just each other, but in their students. The pair has always let students pick and develop their projects, come up with their research questions, design their experiments, collect data, and decide how they organize and visualize on their own. At times, this may also mean allowing them to learn from mistakes.

The “ABC+M Pedagogical” Model

In terms of teaching technique, Beck often cites the “ABC+M” pedagogical model, which was developed by Rhonda Bondie and Akane Zusho. It requires that all lessons should include an opportunity for student Autonomy and choice. Teachers should build classroom environments where students know they Belong. They should provide opportunities for students to build their Competence, and that all lessons should be Meaningful to students. The work that Beck and Henriquez do with their students exemplifies this thinking.

Henriquez began her work as a mentor for the Academy as a way to pay back the early help and inspiration she received from mentors. Her first experience doing any sort of field work or experimentation was in her high school AP biology class, which makes it all the more meaningful that she gets to work with Beck’s Advanced Placement (AP) Biology class.

This made such a lasting impression that she ended up pursuing a career in biology. “If I could inspire at least one other student to pursue a career in STEM by providing them with the opportunity to see themselves as creative, serious, and legitimate researchers, I feel as though I would have done my part,” she said, adding she feels her work with students makes her own research both more meaningful and impactful.

“I think it’s one thing to read about the scientific method in a textbook, and it’s a completely enhanced experience to go through the process yourself. To develop your research questions, learn about your study system, try something out, revise and draw conclusions,” said Henriquez. “It works a part of your brain that so many people don’t get the opportunity to access.”

Inspiration

Megan C. Henriquez poses with Nick Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, during the Spring Soirée hosted at the University Club of New York on April 22, 2025.

Henriquez, who defended her PhD dissertation earlier in the month, feels the characteristics of a good mentor center around excitement and compassion. “No one is doing this for pay, so if you’re not going in excited about your work and what you’re going to share with your students, they’re going to sense that and not be excited either,” she said. She also loves providing interested students with additional opportunities. If a student is particularly interested in ecology fieldwork, she might find a program at the Bronx Zoo or the Junior Academy to keep the student engaged.

“Watching our SiR students make those connections and learn through experience has been one of the most rewarding parts of this program,” she continued, “Having students run up to us and say things like, ‘Look at what happened!’, ‘Look at how much our organisms have grown!’, ‘Our results are refuting or supporting our hypotheses!’ is just so exciting. Seeing them experience new things, overcome challenges, and grow confident in their skills and their problem-solving abilities has been amazing and so rewarding.”

Improvisation

Being able to improvise is another important skill for the mentor and teacher team. “A memory that sticks out is how, during Megan’s and my second year, we had collected water from a local pond and were unsure if we would be able to keep the microorganisms within the water alive. We not only kept them alive, but we also discovered a colony of snail eggs had hatched and grew and which our students then did microplastics experiments on,” Beck recalls.

“There hasn’t been one visit where we haven’t laughed together or enthusiastically yelled about the progress of a group’s experimental organisms. The sea monkeys, the pitcher plants, the butterflies, and especially the snails. We like to challenge ourselves as well as the students, and each year we add a level of complexity to the experimental process,” Beck added.

A snail students raised in 2023-2024, with green microplastics seen in the distance.
Brittany Beck and Megan C. Henriquez, PhD, in front of their SiR poster for 2023-2024.
With one of their SiR classes in 2022-2023, running student-led experiments on the impact of microplastics in local parks.
Brittany Beck and Megan C. Henriquez, PhD, with student presenters in front of their SiR poster for 2022-2023.
Looking at Prospect Park aquatic microorganisms together in 2023-2024.
Student presenters with Brittany Beck and Megan C. Henriquez at the SiR showcase in 2024.
A poster designed by Brittany Beck, Megan C. Henriquez, and their students for the SiR showcase during the 2023-2024 school year.
Megan C. Henriquez with students this year, excited to see sea monkeys living among microplastics.
Megan C. Henriquez and Brittany Beck in 2022-2023, examining HSTAT’s school garden for microorganisms and microplastics.

A Celebration of Hard Work

Beck feels the Scientist-in-Residence program has strengthened her students’ scientific identity, and graduates have told her they have notably more experience in lab skills than their peers in college, especially in designing laboratory protocols. “My students love it when Megan comes in, and they have a deep sense of ownership over their experimental ‘babies,’ whether they are plants, microorganisms, or bugs,” Beck said.

The duo were formally honored for their hard work during the Academy’s Spring Soirée which took place at the University Club of New York on April 22. When she heard she was named Mentor of the Year, Henriquez said she was in disbelief. From “early mornings jumping fences to get pond water to late nights setting up pitfall traps to catch bugs,” Henriquez feels good that her hard work is acknowledged.

Likewise, when Beck heard the news, she was at the National Science Teachers Association national conference in Philadelphia. “I whooped out loud in the busy exhibit hall and immediately called Megan, and we got to celebrate together,” she said with a laugh.

Learn more about the Academy’s Scientist- in-Residence program.

The UK’s Brightest Young Scientists Shine in London at the 2025 Blavatnik Awards

Three remarkable Laureates and six Finalists were recognized for their groundbreaking scientific discoveries during a gala at The Orangery, Kensington Palace, in London

Published April 3, 2025

By Kamala Murthy
Senior Manager, Communications

The 2025 Honorees of the Blavatnik Awards in the UK standing outside The Orangery at Kensington Palace.

Each year, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom celebrate the brightest young scientific minds across the UK. In 2025, three remarkable Laureates and six Finalists were recognized for their groundbreaking contributions to Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences & Engineering. Their achievements were celebrated at a black-tie gala on March 4, 2025, at The Orangery, Kensington Palace, in London.

Honoring Scientific Excellence

The awards, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences, are the largest unrestricted prizes for UK scientists under 42. This year’s Laureates, each receiving £100,000 ($130,000) in funding, were selected from a distinguished group of nine finalists. Six Finalists each received £30,000 ($38,800). These visionary scientists are tackling some of the world’s most urgent challenges, from infant mortality to sustainable manufacturing and climate change prediction.

A Night of Celebration and Inspiration

The prestigious gala, hosted by Sir Leonard and Lady Emily Blavatnik, was attended by luminaries in research, academia, business, and the arts. Opening the ceremony, Prof. Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor and President of King’s College London, reminded the honorees of their power to change the world, “As pioneers in your fields – your voices count.” Citing Bishop Desmond Tutu’s words: “‘you can change the world.’”

Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, reflected on the impact of the awards: “Over these 18 years, the Blavatnik Awards have recognized 540 scientists from 120 research institutions [across the US, UK and Israel] a testament to the program’s growing international reach.”

The Legacy of the Blavatnik Awards

Since their inception, the Blavatnik Awards have provided more than £3.1 million (US$4 million) to UK research, supporting over 70 scientists from more than 100 institutions. With honorees founding over 50 companies – six of which are now publicly traded – the impact of the awards extends far beyond academia, influencing industries and economies worldwide.

Meet the 2025 Laureates

Life Sciences: Christopher Stewart, PhD (Newcastle University)

Prof. Stewart’s research is revolutionizing neonatal care with microbiome-based therapies to combat preterm infant mortality. His work sheds light on the critical role of human breast milk in shaping the gut microbiome of premature babies, leading to groundbreaking advancements in infant health worldwide.

Chemical Sciences: Liam T. Ball, PhD (University of Nottingham)

Prof. Ball is transforming chemical synthesis by developing safer, greener pharmaceutical and agrochemical production methods. His innovative use of bismuth has paved the way for more sustainable industrial manufacturing, reducing environmental impact while enhancing efficiency.

Physical Sciences & Engineering: Benjamin J.W. Mills, PhD (University of Leeds)

Prof. Mills is pioneering Earth Evolution Modeling, enabling scientists to simulate climate changes over billions of years. His work not only deepens our understanding of Earth’s past but also informs the search for habitable exoplanets, advancing both climate science and space exploration.

Meet the 2025 Finalists

Nicholas R. Casewell, PhD (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) – A toxinologist studying snake venom to develop better treatments for snakebite, a neglected tropical disease.

Brianna R. Heazlewood, PhD (University of Liverpool) – A physical chemist designing tools to study extreme-temperature chemical reactions, shedding light on space chemistry.

Hannah Price, PhD (University of Birmingham) – A theoretical physicist exploring extra dimensions through innovative experiments, deepening our understanding of higher-dimensional physics.

Filip Rindler, DPhil (The University of Warwick) – A mathematician creating new theories on how metals deform at a microscopic level, impacting materials science.

Andrew M. Saxe, PhD (UCL) – A neuroscientist using math to uncover how artificial and biological systems learn, advancing AI and memory disorder research.

Chunxiao Song, PhD (University of Oxford) – A chemical biologist developing advanced sequencing methods to detect DNA and RNA changes, aiding early cancer detection.

Looking to the Future

The day after the ceremony, the 2025 Laureates and Finalists presented their research to the public at the Blavatnik Science Symposium “Imagining the Impossible: UK Scientists Changing Our World,” held at the Royal Society of Medicine. This event offered science enthusiasts of all ages an opportunity to engage with these pioneering researchers and learn how their work is shaping the future.

The Blavatnik Awards continue to empower young scientists, fostering discoveries that redefine our understanding of the world and beyond. Stay connected and follow their journey at www.blavatnikawards.org.

The nomination window for the 2026 Blavatnik Awards UK opens on April 2 – May 28, 2025

Dr. Sonya Dougal leads the Chemical Sciences panel at the Blavatnik Science Symposium.
The 2025 Laureates with Prof. Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor and President of King’s College London.
2025 Toast to Science.
Laura Thorén Podesta with Peter Thorén of Access Industries, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and member of the Academy’s Board of Governors.
Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate, Prof. Benjamin Mills, presents his research on Earth Evolution Modeling.
Chemical Sciences Laureate, Prof. Liam Ball from the University of Nottingham receives his medal from Academy President & CEO, Nicholas B. Dirks.
Life Sciences Laureate, Prof. Christopher Stewart from Newcastle University presents his research on human breast milk and the infant microbiome.
(Left to Right) Lord Maurice Saatchi, Sir Leonard Blavatnik, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild.
The Academy’s Blavatnik Awards UK Team (Left to Right) Edison Huynh, Kamala Murthy, Dr. Sonya Dougal, Dr. Nina R. Montoya, Gabrielle Sirois, Prof. Nicholas B. Dirks.
The evening’s hosts, Lady Emily and Sir Leonard Blavatnik.

Britain’s brightest young scientists named at Blavatnik Awards gala, each winning £100,000 (US$126,000) prize

Laureates honored at The Orangery, Kensington Palace

LONDON—March 4, 2025—The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences are proud to announce the 2025 Laureates of the prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK.

As the largest unrestricted prize for UK scientists under the age of 42, the Blavatnik Awards celebrate Britain’s greatest young minds in their fields. This year, the three Laureates—each awarded £100,000 (US$126,000) in unrestricted funds—were chosen from a shortlist of nine finalists, representing some of the brightest young scientific minds across the UK.

Among them, the three Laureates are tackling some of the most complex and pressing issues in science and society: infant mortality, green manufacturing and predicting long-term climate change.

Tonight’s prize-giving gala at The Orangery, Kensington Palace highlighted the growing impact of regional universities in driving scientific breakthroughs.

The winners of this year’s Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists (UK) are:

  • Life Sciences Laureate: Prof. Christopher Stewart (Newcastle University): Christopher leads a laboratory where groundbreaking research on microbiome-based therapies for pre-natal infant mortality is already making a life-saving impact.
  • Chemical Sciences Laureate: Prof. Liam Ball (University of Nottingham): Liam has transformed green manufacturing on an industrial scale, developing safer and more efficient methods of producing pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals with minimal environmental impact.
  • Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate: Prof. Benjamin Mills (University of Leeds): Benjamin is transforming our understanding of climate change on earth and in space with revolutionary methods to predict long-term climate change. His research not only uncovers Earth’s climate history over billions of years, but also how other planets might evolve to support life.

“We created the Blavatnik Awards to honor promising scientists, early in their careers, where unrestricted financial support and public recognition will give them the confidence to take bold risks in their scientific research that address the world’s most complex and urgent scientific challenges,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

The Ceremony

The announcement was made at a black-tie gala, held this evening at The Orangery at Kensington Palace, hosted by Len and Emily Blavatnik and presented by Professor Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor and President of King’s College London. Each Laureate shared their prize-winning research with the country’s leading figures in research, academia, business and the arts.

In his opening remarks, Professor Shitij Kapur, FMedSci, Vice-Chancellor & President of King’s College London and internationally renowned psychiatrist and neuroscientist, told this year’s honorees: “As pioneers in your fields – your voices count. And in your own way, taking your own steps, as King’s graduate Bishop Desmond Tutu says, ‘you can change the world.’ And that is what we will hear about tonight – how your science is changing the world.” 

In his ceremony remarks, Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council, commented on the program’s magnitude: “Since their inception, the Awards, administered by our Academy, have received close to 7,500 applications from over 450 research institutions across the US, the UK, and Israel. Over these 18 years, the Blavatnik Awards have recognized 540 scientists from 120 research institutions, a testament to the program’s growing international reach.”

Among the distinguished guests were 2014 Nobel Prize Laureate, Prof. John O’Keefe from University College London (UCL); 2019 Nobel Prize Laureate, Didier Queloz from the University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich; American-British business leader, Lady Lynn de Rothschild and Lord Maurice Saatchi; Former CEO of British Petroleum, Lord John Browne; President-Elect of the Royal Society of Medicine, Prof. Gillian Leng; Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, Prof. Evelyn Welch; President and Provost of UCL, Dr. Michael Spence; and Physicist and Chairman of the Giant Magellan Telescope, Dr. Walter Massey.

The Blavatnik Awards

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists are the most substantial unrestricted awards available to UK scientists under the age of 42. Since their establishment, the Awards have recognized over 70 honorees from more than 100 research institutions. To date, the Blavatnik Awards have contributed more than £3.1 million (US$3.9 million) to UK research.

Blavatnik Awards honorees have gone on to found 50 companies, with six now publicly traded, collectively valued at over $12 billion. In total, Blavatnik Scholars have been granted over 7,300 patents. By the end of 2025, the Blavatnik Awards will have awarded nearly $20 million in prizes across their global counterparts in the UK, US, and Israel.

The Laureates

Life Sciences Laureate

Prof. Christopher Stewart

Microbiologist Christopher Stewart, PhD, Newcastle University, is a pioneer in global health, developing microbiome-based approaches to prevent necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), the leading cause of death in preterm infants. Stewart’s work revealed the role of human breast milk in shaping the gut microbiome in premature infants, by providing abundant sugars that serve as an energy source for beneficial bacterial species. Stewart has also established a novel premature gut organoid model and probiotic strategies to address NEC. This work is changing both local and global clinical practice, including clinical trials to improve infant nutrition and microbial-based therapy for premature infants in low-resource settings. Stewart is the first Blavatnik Awards Laureate from Newcastle University.

Chemical Sciences Laureate

Prof. Liam T. Ball

Organic Chemist Liam T. Ball, PhD, University of Nottingham, is transforming chemical synthesis by developing innovative tools for making pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals with reduced environmental impact. Ball’s pioneering work with bismuth, a non-toxic element, has enabled safer and more efficient herbicide development and drug production, including a streamlined process for the anticancer drug golvatinib. Ball has also made advancements in the synthesis of phosphine ligands, a critical tool for speeding up reactions through catalysis, making the process safer and more sustainable. By focusing on understanding reaction mechanisms, Ball’s work drives greener chemical processes, advancing medicine, agriculture, and sustainable manufacturing on an industrial scale.

Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate

Prof. Benjamin J.W. Mills

Biogeochemist Benjamin J.W. Mills, PhD, University of Leeds, has pioneered advances in Earth Evolution Modelling that has allowed him and his research group to simulate Earth’s climate and surface processes over billions of years in order to understand the ancient history of Earth’s surface environment and our planet’s path to habitability. His techniques have significantly advanced our understanding of the Earth’s atmospheric processes and climate drivers. Mills’ foundational work can be readily applied to simulating the histories of atmospheric oxygen in exoplanets, paving the way for the search for other Earth-like planets. Mills is the first Blavatnik Awards Laureate from the University of Leeds.

All nine honorees, announced prior to the ceremony, were also recognized during the evening’s festivities.

Members of the public interested in learning more about the research of this year’s Laureates and Finalists are welcome to register to attend the free, public symposium: “Imagining the Impossible: UK Scientists Changing Our World,” in-person at the Royal Academy of Medicine on March 5, 2025, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm GMT/ 6:00 am to 11:00 am EST or online. Register HERE.

To follow the progress of the Blavatnik Awards, please visit the Awards’ website (www.blavatnikawards.org) or follow us on Facebook and X (@BlavatnikAwards).

Images from the ceremony and interviews with the Laureates are available upon request:

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists 

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, began by identifying outstanding scientific talent in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In 2014, the Blavatnik National Awards were created to recognize faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States. In 2017, the Awards were further expanded to honor faculty-rank scientists in the UK and Israel.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation 

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists, and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Sir Leonard Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery, and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

The Tata Transformation Prize Celebrates the 2024 Winners in Mumbai

The New York Academy of Sciences continues its partnership with India’s Tata Group for the second annual Tata Transformation Prize.

Published January 8, 2025

By Kamala Murthy
Senior Manager, Communications

On Friday, December 13, 2024 the Tata Group and The New York Academy of Sciences honored the 2024 Tata Transformation Prize Winners at an impressive award ceremony and dinner at the historic Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai.

Launched in 2023, the Tata Transformation Prize identifies and supports visionary scientists in India who are developing breakthrough technologies that address India’s most significant societal challenges in Food Security, Sustainability, and Healthcare. The ceremonial event was celebrated at this famous venue for the first time.

The 2024 Tata Transformation Prize Winners, selected from 169 entries from 18 Indian states by an international jury of leading experts, included:

  • FOOD SECURITY: C. Anandharamakrishnan, PhD, CSIR – National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology has pioneered a variety of rice fortified with multiple essential nutrients that simultaneously has a low glycemic index (GI) to address micronutrient malnutrition and blood sugar management for diabetics. Watch his film HERE.
  • SUSTAINABILITY: Amartya Mukhopadhyay, DPhil, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is working to advance Sodium (Na)-ion battery technologies. His battery prototype is approximately 30% cheaper than Lithium (Li)-ion batteries and operates in a broader temperature range. His design is safer to store by creating air- and water-stable sodium-transition metal oxide cathodes and alloy-based anodes. Prof. Mukhopadhyay’s approach replaces toxic solvents with water to reduce production costs and environmental impact. Watch his film HERE.
  • HEALTHCARE: Raghavan Varadarajan​, PhD, Indian Institute of Science is working to develop a cost-effective RSV vaccine that will allow for greater access to wide-spread deployment of vaccination programs. His scientific advances will surmount the challenges that have hindered RSV vaccine development for decades and will provide broad, longer-lasting protection against RSV infection. Watch his film HERE.

A Night of Distinguished International Guests

Harish Bhat, former brand custodian for Tata Sons and book author, served as the ceremony presenter. The evening’s Chief Guest, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and Guest Speaker, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist for the World Health Organization (WHO), both gave keynote addresses.

Other distinguished guests included Noel Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts; Prof. Désirée van Gorp, Professor of International Business and Chair of the International Advisory Board at Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands; and AI Pioneer and Turing Award Winner, Dr. Raj Reddy of Carnegie Mellon University. Several members of the Tata Transformation Prize’s international jury attended, including Prof. José Miguel Aguilera Radic from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Dr. Jianying Hu from IBM, Dr. Carolyn Duran from Apple, Dr. Sandra Barteit from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Ankur Bhatnagar from Biocon, Prabhakaran Doiraraj from the Centre for Chronic Disease Control (India), and Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, founder of India’s first Life Sciences research park.

The Tata Transformation Prize, a Catalyst for Innovative Solutions

In his opening remarks, N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the Board of Tata Sons, said, “In a technology-first future, India needs a transformation of vision to solve the big problems at its scale. We need our scientists driving deep, fundamental research and innovators pushing beyond the margins of new technology. That is the aim of the Tata Transformation Prize: to both recognize and support breakthrough innovations, developed in research labs across India, that are ready for wide-scale deployment to address India’s challenges.”

Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, followed the Chairman’s remarks: “We are excited to continue this unique collaboration with Tata Sons, which serves as a catalyst for innovative solutions to India’s most urgent challenges. The Prize addresses India’s critical societal needs by honoring India’s most outstanding scientists who genuinely want to make a difference while supporting India’s advancement as a world leader.” Dirks also recognized the jury, which included eminent scientists, clinicians, technologists, and engineers from world-renowned organizations and academic institutions across five continents, and the role of the Prize’s Scientific Advisory Council, who serve as ambassadors for the program.

Intending to drive impactful innovation and scale-up implementation of high-reward research, each Winner received INR 2 crores (approximately US$240,000) in prize money and was honored with a Tata Transformation Prize medal at the ceremony.

Roopa Purushothaman, Chief Economist for Tata, delivered closing remarks for the ceremony.

The day prior, the Tata Group and the Academy hosted a symposium featuring the previous year’s Winners at a symposium at Bombay House, the head office of the Tata Group. The 2023 Winners showcased their scientific progress and new collaborations since winning the prize last year.

Photo Gallery

(Left to Right) Nicholas Dirks, President and CEO of the Academy, Healthcare Winner, Dr. Raghavan Varadarajan, Prof. Amartya Mukhopadhyay, Dr. C Anandharamakrishnan, and N. Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons.
The Chairman of Tata Sons, N. Chandrasekaran, gives the opening address at the Tata Transformation Prize Ceremony.
Academy President and CEO, Nicholas Dirks, speaks about the Academy’s partnership with Tata on the Tata Transformation Prize.
Dr. Raghavan Varadarajan is presented with the Tata Transformation Prize medal by the Chairman and Dr. Souyma Swaminathan.
Food Security Winner, Dr. C. Anandharamakrishnan is presented with a medal by Prof. Ajay Sood and Tata’s Chairman, N. Chandrasekaran.
Sustainability Winner, Prof. Amartya Mukhopadhyay presents his research on sodium-ion battery technology.
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Former Chief Scientist of the WHO spoke about global threats to health.
Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, speaks about science for societal impact.
(Left to right) Ralf Speth, Former CEO of Tata Motors with Dr. Carolyn Duran from Apple (Tata Transformation Prize jury member), and N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons.
The administrative team of the Tata Transformation Prize.
(Left to Right) Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, Emeritus Professor & Former Director of the National Center for Biological Sciences leads a panel discussion with the 2023 Winners at the first symposium held at Bombay House: Prof. Anurag S. Rathore, IIT Delhi; Prof. Shilpi Sharma, IIT Delhi; Prof. Purnananda Guptasarma, IISER Mohali.
Academy Staff (Left to Right) Sanaz Masserat, Dr. Sonya Dougal, Kamala Murthy, and Academy President and CEO, Nicholas Dirks.

Discovering Cancer Therapies through Neuroscience

The 2024 recipient of the Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine is exploring the interactions between cancer cells and the nervous system.

Published November 11, 2024

By Megan Prescott, PhD
Program Manager for Life Sciences

Michelle Monje, MD, PhD

What does it take to pioneer a new field of science? For Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, the key is humility, collaboration, and resilience.

Prof. Monje, the Milan Gambhir Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine, was awarded the 2024 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine, administered by the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and the journal Molecular Medicine, for her outstanding contributions to research relating to the neuroscience of cancer and its implications for therapy.

“Winning the Ross Prize is an enormous honor,” said Prof. Monje. “It’s wonderful to see cancer neuroscience being recognized in this way because it has so much potential for clinical translation and the potential to improve outcomes for very difficult-to-treat cancers. I’m just absolutely delighted to see this recognition shine a light on this emerging field.”

The emerging field of cancer neuroscience explores interactions between cancer cells and the components of the nervous system—neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, Schwann cells and peripheral nerves—and the effects of these interactions on cancer initiation, progression, the tumor immune microenvironment and metastasis. It differs from closely related fields like neuro-oncology in distinct ways.

“Cancer neuroscience is a field at the intersection of neuroscience and cancer biology and it recognizes, what is increasingly appreciated, as the critical role of the nervous system in driving malignancy,” Prof. Monje explains. “Neuro-oncology concerns itself with a particular type of cancer emerging from, or occurring within, the nervous system. Cancer neuroscience includes not only those tumors, but also really every cancer, as it’s influenced by either the central or peripheral nervous system.”

Humility, Collaboration, Resilience

Prof. Monje received her MD and PhD in neuroscience from Stanford University and completed her residency training in neurology at the Mass General Brigham program in Boston. She then returned to Stanford for a clinical fellowship in pediatric neuro-oncology. She chose this field because she “recognized very early on that our therapies for many diseases of the nervous system and especially brain cancers are truly insufficient”, in part because “there’s still so much to be learned and so much that is unknown; I felt that in order to help my patients with brain cancers that I needed a much deeper basic understanding of the normal processes from which these tumors emerge,” she explained.

Prof. Monje believes her open-minded approach to her work is a contributing factor for her success.

“I’m constantly humbled by the lack of treatment options I have for most of my patients in neuro-oncology, the kinds of toxicities that those therapies can cause to the nervous system, and our need to do better by understanding more,” she said.

A crucial factor for success in an emerging field that intersects multiple disciplines is collaboration.

“Reaching out to expert immunologists and learning as much as I can from them has been really valuable, as we’ve discovered potential new therapeutic strategies for these terrible brain cancers that occur in children,” she says, adding that her work with Crystal Mackall, MD, has led to the first-ever CAR-T cell clinical trial for children with diffuse midline glioma (DIPG).

Prof. Monje also cites resilience as a primary driver in her success.

“The newest and sometimes most interesting ideas are the hardest ones to get through publication acceptance. It’s often hard when you have a new perspective, but if you believe in it, and you believe it’s true and important, you have to stick with it and keep beating that drum,” she says.

Connecting Neuroscience, Immunology, and Neuro-Oncology

Prof. Monje is committed to broadening her understanding of cancer neuroscience. Her research focuses on the connections between neuroscience, immunology, and neuro-oncology. Specifically, she studies the intricate communication between neurons and glial cells in normal and disease brain function. Her work has revealed how cancer cells can exploit this process to drive tumor growth in brain cancers. She is excited to see this field grow and the potential for the development of new therapies for cancer patients.

“There’s a fascinating crosstalk between the nervous system, the immune system, and cancers that I think are critically important, not only for the fundamental ways that these tumors grow and progress, but because they need to be understood in order for us to successfully leverage really promising immune therapies,” she says. “So, I’m very excited about this intersection of three fields that is occurring within cancer neuroscience.”

Exploring how cancer takes advantage of normal mechanisms of the development and plasticity of the brain, the field of cancer neuroscience can also lead to insight into the mechanisms of normal brain development that are important for learning and memory. Additionally, this may better our understanding of the development of other diseases ranging from epilepsy to opiate addiction.

“There’s been a wide range of implications for the lessons we’ve learned, from cancer, by studying the neuroscience,” Prof. Monje explains.

Ultimately, for Prof. Monje, the greatest driver of her success in advancing the field of cancer neuroscience is her patients.

“I feel so inspired after returning from clinic to ask very specific questions in the laboratory. Not only about the disease, but also about the normal nervous system,” she explains. “Throughout my career, the privilege of taking care of patients has really guided the basic science that we do.”

Read more about the Ross Prize and past awardees:

Nine Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholars for the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists Announced

Cutting-edge research includes the study of the human ribosome to combat cancer, interfacing machines with the human brain to better understand neurological characteristics, and decoding the “dark matter” of viral genomes to mitigate viral threats.

New York, NY | September 17, 2024 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences today announced the three Laureates and six Finalists of the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. The Awards honor outstanding postdoctoral scientists from academic research institutions across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

The Blavatnik Regional Awards jury, consisting of distinguished scientists and engineers, selected one Laureate in each category who will receive a $30,000 unrestricted prize and two Finalists in each category who will be awarded $10,000 each. The three Laureates and six Finalists were chosen out of 134 highly competitive nominations received from 24 academic institutions in the Tri-State area.

The announcement comes during the National Postdoctoral Association’s 15th annual celebration of 2024 National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which recognizes the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to U.S. research and discovery.  

The 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Winners and Finalists will be honored at the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists Ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th Street, on October 1, 2024.

“It is a great pleasure to congratulate and honor our outstanding Laureates and Finalists,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and member of the President’s Council of The New York Academy of Sciences.  “Their ongoing research and discoveries will contribute to the global scientific community for years to come.”

“Postdocs help drive research and innovation forward and are catalysts for new scientific ideas and applied technologies,” said  Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences. “We are incredibly proud to announce these outstanding postdoctoral honorees of the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards, especially during National Postdoc Appreciation Week — a week dedicated to recognizing the important contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to American research and discovery.”

The 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Winners in the three award categories are: 

Chemical Sciences

Arnaud Vanden-Broeck, Ph.D., nominated by The Rockefeller University
Biochemist and structural biologist Arnaud Vanden-Broeck is leading groundbreaking work in uncovering the intricate processes behind human ribosome assembly, laying the foundation for treating cancers and diseases related to ribosome dysfunction.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, Ph.D., nominated by Yale University
The work of computer scientist Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi has led to unprecedented advances in creating a “brain-memex”, a system that interfaces computers with the human brain and could fundamentally shift our ability to understand neurological characteristics.

Life Sciences

Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, Ph.D., nominated by The Rockefeller University
Through her research, virologist Shira Weingarten-Gabbay has uncovered thousands of novel microproteins encoded in the “dark matter” of viral genomes, which has exposed previously unknown immune targets for vaccines.

The following postdoctoral researchers have been named Finalists in their respective categories:

Chemical Sciences

Juan D. Jiménez, Ph.D., nominated by Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chemical engineer Juan D. Jiménez is advancing sustainable industrial practices by developing novel catalytic materials that transform greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane into valuable chemical products.

Arthur Neuberger, Ph.D., nominated by Columbia University
As a Professor of Molecular Bioimaging at LMU Munich,  Arthur Neuberger conducts pioneering research on TRP channels, which has led to new ways of treating pain, cancer, and skin diseases, as well as deciphering the mechanism of how we sense temperature.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Aavishkar Patel, Ph.D., nominated by the Flatiron Institute
Condensed matter theorist Aavishkar Patel is advancing a new theoretical understanding of “strange metals” and their tendencies towards superconductivity based on how microscopic irregularities in materials modify electron interactions.

Chiara Trovatello, Ph.D., nominated by Columbia University
Nanotechnology materials scientist Chiara Trovatello is developing new nano-engineered material platforms for optical computing, a critical step towards innovative imaging and information processing methods in quantum technologies.

Life Sciences

Nicole J. Lake, Ph.D., nominated by Yale University
Geneticist Nicole J. Lake is developing novel tools to study genetic variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to improve genetic diagnostics for patients with rare diseases.

Amy R. Strom, Ph.D., nominated by Princeton University
Molecular and cellular biologist Amy R. Storm is exploring the organization of biological “condensates” that physically compartmentalize target genes in the cell, influencing the expression of cancer-causing genes. 

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, initially identified outstanding regional scientific talent among faculty and postdoctoral students in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Blavatnik National Awards, honoring faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States, were first awarded in 2014 and were expanded in 2017 to honor faculty-rank scientists in the United Kingdom and Israel. By the end of 2024, the Blavatnik Awards will have awarded prizes totaling $17.4 million and, to date, has honored over 570 scientists.

Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 74 companies. After recognition by the Blavatnik Awards, 30% of past honorees obtained a patent or filed a patent application, 75% have started a new research direction, and 11% have started a new collaboration with another Blavatnik Awards honoree. Visit blavatnikawards.org for further information. 

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at blavatnikfoundation.org.

2024 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Announced

A molecular biologist from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a chemical engineer from UC Berkeley, and an earth scientist from Cornell University are this year’s Laureates.

New York, NY | September 12, 2024 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences named three women scientists as Laureates of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, marking the second time since the launch of the awards ten years ago that all three Laureates are women. Each will receive $250,000, the largest unrestricted scientific prize offered to America’s most promising, faculty-level scientific researchers under 42. Three independent juries – one each for life sciences, chemical sciences, and physical sciences & engineering – composed of some of America’s most distinguished scientists selected the three winning Laureates. An additional 15 Finalists will each receive $15,000.

The 2024 Blavatnik National Awards received 331 nominations from 172 institutions in 43 U.S. states. Nominees must be faculty-level scientific researchers, 42 years of age or younger.

The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists will celebrate the 2024 Laureates and Finalists and the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureates and Finalists in a gala ceremony on October 1, 2024, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The 2024 winning Laureates are:

2024 Laureate in Life Sciences

Cigall Kadoch, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School & Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Molecular & Cellular Biology)

Working to discover and characterize chromatin remodeling complexes, understanding how their disruption leads to human disease, and developing a new class of therapeutics

Healthy cells rely on the intricate collaboration of millions of biological molecules; even minor perturbations in these interactions can lead to diseases like cancer. In a series of groundbreaking studies, Cigall Kadoch has decoded the role of ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers—complex molecular machines made up of dozens of interacting proteins—in regulating DNA accessibility and gene expression. The Kadoch Lab also unraveled how disease-causing mutations in these complexes impact their structure and function in an expanding list of diseases that includes cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, and immunodeficiencies.  Dr. Kadoch has built upon these discoveries to develop novel therapeutics, which are being tested in clinical trials and could revolutionize the treatment of diverse maladies.

2024 Laureate in Chemical Sciences

Markita del Carpio Landry, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley (Chemical Engineering)

Pioneering nanoscale chemical tools to address disparate challenges in human health and sustainability

The behavior of chemicals within and between cells of the body still holds many secrets to how life operates. By manipulating these basic chemical interactions of life, using very small particles to uncover new insights and tools for biology, Landry has applied new nanobiotechnology towards a wide range of tasks, from measuring the transfer of chemicals between synapses in the brain to bioengineering plant genetics. Landry’s strategies for applying nanobiotechnology tools are already paving the way for more resilient crops and new treatments for neurological disease ranging from neurodegeneration to autism spectrum disorders.

2024 Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering

Britney E. Schmidt, Ph.D., Cornell University (Physical Earth Sciences)

Advancing climate science and planetary habitability studies through groundbreaking research on ice-ocean interactions and innovative exploration of Earth’s polar regions and icy planetary bodies

In order to better predict the impact of climate change we must understand the interactions between the Earth’s oceans and ice. Britney E. Schmidt and her team designed, built, and deployed Icefin, a remotely operated vehicle that provides unprecedented insights into Antarctic ice shelf melting and ocean circulation. Schmidt’s work solves key problems in ice dynamics and interaction with the ocean and offers novel comprehensive views of sub-ice environments. Critically, this research shows how interactions between the ice, ocean, and seafloor control how glaciers respond to the warming ocean. Schmidt also applies Earth-based ice studies to solar system icy worlds to further our understanding of extraterrestrial environments. Schmidt’s contributions have earned widespread recognition, including inclusion in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

“On behalf of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, I congratulate this year’s outstanding Laureates and Finalists for their exceptional research.  They are among the preeminent leaders of the next generation of scientific innovation and discovery,” said Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation and a member of the President’s Council of The New York Academy of Sciences.   

Nicholas B. Dirks, president and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, said, “The New York Academy of Sciences has always championed women in science. We are thrilled to celebrate, for the second time in the United States, that all three of the scientists named the 2024 Blavatnik National Awards Laureates are women working in their respective fields to use science to benefit the public good.”

FINALISTS

The following scientists have been named Finalists in their respective categories:

Life Sciences

Wei Gao, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology (Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology)
Developed advancements in wearable biomolecular sensors, allowing for continuous, real-time monitoring and early diagnosis of various health conditions without requiring invasive medical procedures.

Kaiyu Guan, Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Agriculture & Animal Sciences)
Developed revolutionary technology to enhance our understanding of agricultural production systems and innovating transformative solutions to achieve co-sustainability of agricultural productivity and environmental quality.

Sergiu Paşca, M.D., Stanford University (Neuroscience & Developmental Biology)
Uncovered transformative and therapeutically relevant insights into the molecular and cellular steps underlying the assembly of the human brain and the mechanisms leading to neuropsychiatric disease.

Sohini Ramachandran, Ph.D., Brown University (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)
Established quantitative methods that reveal the causes and consequences of human genetic variation while advancing the goal of personalized medicine for all.

Christoph A. Thaiss, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (Neuroscience & Immunology)
Made significant advances in decoding the mechanisms by which the communication between environment, body, and brain mediates the impact of lifestyle factors on common human diseases.

Chemical Sciences

Joseph Cotruvo, Jr. Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University (Biochemistry & Structural Biology)
Discovered and engineered biomolecules to sustainably harvest and purify rare metals, which are used in advanced technology, from electronic waste and the environment.

Garret Miyake, Ph.D., Colorado State University (Polymer Chemistry)
Made ground-breaking advances across polymer and organic chemistry, including inventing light-driven synthesis methods, novel plastics that are chemically recyclable, and light-reflecting coatings to reduce energy needs.

David Nagib, Ph.D., The Ohio State University (Organic Chemistry)
Stabilized traditionally unstable molecules, such as carbenes and free radicals, to discover faster, more effective, and previously unknown chemical mechanisms for synthesizing pharmaceuticals.

Yogesh Surendranath, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Inorganic & Solid-State Chemistry)
Developed a molecular-level understanding of how charges arrange at electrified surfaces, like battery electrodes, and new chemical reactions to decarbonize fuel and chemical synthesis.

Wei Xiong, Ph.D., University of California San Diego (Physical Chemistry)
Established the experimental foundations of polariton chemistry, which describes hybrid, excited states of molecules, and engineered photonic cavities to provide better control over chemical reactions.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Anima Anandkumar, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology (Computer Science)
Made ground-breaking advancements in AI to address practical scientific challenges, drastically accelerating simulation of complex phenomena like weather forecasting, scientific simulations, engineering design and scientific discovery.

Polina Anikeeva, Ph.D.,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Materials Science & Nanotechnology)
Integrated nanomaterials synthesis and electronic device design to develop neurotechnologies, artificial limbs, and soft robotics that advance our understanding and treatment of neurological disorders.

Ivan Z. Corwin, Ph.D., Columbia University (Applied Mathematics)
Expanded “Extreme Diffusion Theory” to model complex physical systems like the growth of tumors, the propagation of nerve signals, and the early spread of pandemics.

Alexey V. Gorshkov, Ph.D., National Institute of Standards and Technology & University of Maryland (Theoretical Physics)
Advanced the design of large interacting quantum systems through pioneering research at the intersection of quantum physics and information science with groundbreaking implications for quantum computers, sensors, and networks.

Maryam Shanechi, Ph.D., University of Southern California (Electrical Engineering)
Pioneered research at the intersection of engineering, AI, and neuroscience to develop advanced neurotechnologies that decode and regulate brain activity for treating brain disorders.

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, initially identified outstanding regional scientific talent among faculty and postdoctoral students in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Blavatnik National Awards, honoring faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States, were first awarded in 2014 and were expanded in 2017 to honor faculty-rank scientists in the United Kingdom and Israel. By the end of 2024, the Blavatnik Awards will have awarded prizes totaling  $17.4 million and, to date, has honored over 470 scientists.

Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 72 companies. After recognition by the Blavatnik Awards, 30% of past honorees obtained a patent or filed a patent application, 75% have started a new research direction, and 11% have started a new collaboration with another Blavatnik Awards honoree.

Visit blavatnikawards.org for further information.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at blavatnikfoundation.org.

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