Discovery of Higgs Particle Chosen As Scientific Breakthrough of the Year by the AAAS

The discovery of the Higgs Particle was chosen as the scientific breakthrough of the year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The announcement was made in Melbourne, Australia at the opening of the 2012 International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP).

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced its discovery of the Higgs particle in early July 2012. This discovery capped decades of research and hardwork in finding the elusive particle.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society. The AAAS is affiliated with 261 societies and serves around 10 million members.

The AAAS publishes the journals Science, Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. The peer reviewed journal, Science, has over 1 million readers and has the largest paid circulation of the world.

The mission of AAAS is to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more.

$500,000 Gruber Foundation Genetics Prize for 2012 Goes To Douglas C. Wallace

The Genetics Prize of the Gruber Foundation is presented to leading scientists in recognition of groundbreaking contributions in genetics research. It can be awarded from one to up to three scientists.

The Genetics Prize was established in 2001. It was awarded to Rudolf Jaenisch. His work has produced important advances in understanding cancer, neurological disorders, connective tissue diseases, and developmental abnormalities in bone and muscle.

Since 2001, the Prize, comprising of a gold medal and an unrestricted $500,000 cash award, has been awarded for fundamental insights in the field of genetics. These may include original discoveries in genetic function, regulation, transmission, and variation, as well as in genomic organization.

The Gruber Foundation is now established at Yale University.

$500,000 Gruber Foundation Genetics Prize goes to Philadelphia scientist

Douglas C. Wallace, PhD

Douglas C. Wallace, PhD, a pioneering genetics researcher who founded the field of mitochondrial genetics in humans, will receive the 2012 Genetics Prize of The Gruber Foundation. Wallace is being honored with this prestigious international award for his groundbreaking achievements in helping science understand the role of mitochondria—the "power plants" of cells—in the development of disease and as markers for human evolution.

He will receive the award November 9 in San Francisco at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, where he will also deliver a lecture titled "A Bioenergetic Perspective on Origins, Health, and Disease".

"Douglas Wallace's contributions to our understanding of mitochondrial genetics have changed the way human and medical geneticists think about the role of mitochondria in human health and disease," said Elizabeth Blackburn, chair of the Selection Advisory Board to the Prize. Blackburn is the 2006 Gruber Genetics Prize laureate and shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.

Dr. Stephen Quake Honored As Recipient of the 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Stephen Quake, PhD

The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding innovators and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.

Within the program, there is the Lemelson-MIT Prize. It recognizes individuals whose ideas, inventions, and innovations have contributed a significant value to society and the world. Dubbed the "Oscar for Inventors," the Lemelson-MIT Prize is awarded to outstanding mid-career inventors, who have developed a patented product or process which can or has been adopted for practical use.

By recognizing and funding younger, mid-career inventors, the prize is designed to spur inventive careers and provide role models for future generations of inventors.

The Lemelson-MIT Prize seeks to highlight the pivotal role inventive activity plays in the achievement of positive social, cultural and economic goals.

The objectives of the Lemelson-MIT Prize are to:

• Recognize and reward America’s outstanding mid-career inventors
• Encourage broad dissemination of invention(s) to achieve maximum impact
• Celebrate individuals who enhance economic opportunity and community well-being through their inventive work
• Foster continued inventive work that creates opportunities and overcomes challenges
• Increase awareness of the work of inventors and the potential for commercialization and wider adoption of their inventions
• Promote role models who can inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers

Physicist and entrepreneur Dr. Stephen Quake honored with $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Dr. Stephen Quake, one of the world's most prolific inventors, was announced today as recipient of the 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. An adventurer at heart, Quake relishes in the adrenaline that comes from mountain biking and ski mountaineering. It is that same rush he gets from exploring the unknown that drives him to consistently push scientific limits. Quake is being recognized for his revolutionary work in drug discovery, genome analysis and personalized medicine. He will accept the prestigious award and present his accomplishments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the Lemelson-MIT Program's sixth-annual EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit, June 20 – 23.

Raised in an entrepreneurial household with a father who worked in the computer industry, Quake was captivated by technology and its infinite applications at an early age. Quake found academic success in his high school science and math courses, and went on to earn degrees in physics and mathematics from Stanford University and Oxford University. Today, the professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Stanford and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has more than 80 patents and four companies to his name.

Seven Scientists Receive 2012 Kavli Prize In The Fields of Astrophysics, Nanoscience and Neuroscience

The Kavli Prize is awarded to scientists who have shown outstanding and exemplary work in their field. The Kavli prize focuses on three fields of science; astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

Recipients of the prize are announced every second year. The Kavli Prize was first awarded in Oslo, Norway on 09 September 2008. They were presented by His Royal Highness Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway.

The Kavli Prize is a partnership between The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation (US) and The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.

Kavli Prize recipients are chosen biennially by three prize committees comprised of distinguished international scientists recommended by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. After making their selection for Award recipients, the recommendations of these prize committees are confirmed by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

7 scientific pioneers receive the 2012 Kavli Prizes

This year's laureates were selected for making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the outer solar system, the differences in material properties at nano- and larger scales, and how the brain receives and responds to sensations such as sight, sound and touch.

The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics is shared between David C. Jewitt, University of California, USA, Jane X. Luu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory, USA, and Michael E. Brown, California Institute of Technology, USA. They received the prize "for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system."

The Kavli Prize in Nanoscience is given to Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, "for her pioneering contributions to the study of phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and thermal transport in nanostructures."

March of Dimes Awards Prize in Developmental Biology To Two Pioneering Scientists In Skin Biology

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) was created in 1938 by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It's mission was to lead, direct, and unify the fight against polio. At the time, polio was a paralyzing viral disease that affected children. The NFIP's annual event was called The March of Dimes which gradually became synonymous with that of the organization.

In 1958, The March of Dimes changed it's mission from fighting polio to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, infant mortality, and premature birth.

Currently, The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. With chapters nationwide and its premier event, March for Babies®, the March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

March of Dimes awards $250,000 prize to 2 scientists who pioneered advances in skin disorders

Honorees revealed workings of skin stem cells and developed skin grafts for burn victims

Two scientists who have revolutionized the understanding of skin biology, creating crucial advances in treating skin cancers and other diseases as well as severe burns, have been chosen to receive the 2012 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology.

Howard Green, MD, George Higginson Professor of Cell Biology, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, and Elaine Fuchs, PhD, Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor, Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology & Development, Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, Rockefeller University, will share this year's prize.