The Japan Prize Foundation has named MIT Professor Robert Weinberg as one of the recipients of its 2021 awards in the category of Medical Science and Medical Science, citing Weinberg’s contributions to the development of a multi-step model of how cancer begins and progresses, and the application of that model to improve cancer treatments and outcomes.
Weinberg, along with co-recipient Bert Vogelstein of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will receive his award in April at a presentation ceremony attended by the Emperor and Empress of Japan. “Dr. Weinberg’s work has led to the identification of genes critical for cancer development that were later approved as therapeutic targets, resulting in the saving of thousands of lives, ”the Japan Prize Foundation writes in its news release.
“This award is a tribute to the brilliant scientists who worked with me during my time at the Whitehead Institute,” says Weinberg, a founding member of the Whitehead Institute who is Daniel K. Ludwig’s professor of cancer research at MIT, and also an extraterrestrial member of the David Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.
In 1979, Weinberg and his laboratory discovered the first gene associated with tumor formation in humans, also known as oncogene. In the decades since, he has dedicated his career to studying not only the genetic basis of cancer, but also the ways in which cancer cells spread and multiply throughout the body. His work, along with that of Vogelstein, is credited with the development of new areas of cancer research, including the idea of targeted cancer therapies, and the broader field of precision medicine.
Weinberg joins a list of eminent scientists from around the world who have received the prestigious Japan Award, which aims to express Japan’s gratitude to the international community. Each year, the Japan Prize Foundation selects two specialized scientific and technological fields and requests nominations from more than a thousand scientists and engineers across Japan and abroad. This year these scientists nominated 385 individuals, and three received an award. In addition to Weinberg and Vogelstein, Martin A. Green, a professor at the University of New South Wales, was also honored this year, in the category of Resources, Energy, Environment and Social Infrastructure.
“Weinberg’s work on oncogenes and tumor suppression genes in cancer research has helped create the paradigm of cancer progression as we know it today, and has led the field of cancer biology in new and fruitful directions,” says Whitehead Institute director and MIT professor about biology. Ruth Lehmann. “His research has laid the foundation for the development of new treatments that improve the lives of cancer patients around the world.”