Sonenberg wins prestigious Rosenstiel Award

Nahum Sonenberg, professor of biochemistry at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre, has been named the winner of the 41st Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science by Brandeis University. Twenty-four past Rosenstiel winners have gone on to win Nobel Prize
Nahum Sonenberg

Twenty-four past winners have gone on to win Nobel Prize

By McGill Reporter Staff

Nahum Sonenberg, professor of biochemistry at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre, has been named the winner of the 41st Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science by Brandeis University.

Sonenberg’s wide-ranging research has transformed our understanding of the way that proteins are synthesized in human cells, with implications for diseases ranging from diabetes through hepatitis C, poliovirus and cancer. His research has revolutionized understanding of processes ranging from the response to insulin, cellular development, and immunology as well as learning and memory.

Over the years, Prof. Sonenberg has been awarded a number of prestigious prizes including the Robert L. Noble Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada (2002), the Isaak-Walton-Killam Award for Health Sciences (2005) and the Gairdner Foundation International Award (2008). Sonenberg was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010.

The Rosenstiel Award was established in 1971 to highlight the important role educational institutions play in encouraging and developing basic science as it applies to medicine.

The Awards are presented annually to scientists who have made discoveries of particular originality and importance to basic medical research. More than two-dozen Rosenstiel winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.