Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation
@laskerfdn
Our mission is to improve health by accelerating support for medical research through recognition of research excellence, advocacy, and education.
What makes us feel the need to sleep? 🧪 In Nature, William Joo et al. found that co-activation of GABAergic and serotonergic neurons synergistically promotes sleep, whereas co-inhibition chronically decreases sleep by nearly 70% in mice: https://ow.ly/whWK50ZFhCV
Godfrey N. Hounsfield was born #OTD in 1919. 🧪 Hounsfield won a Lasker Award for discoveries that led to a revolution in diagnostic radiology, enabling scanning by computer-assisted tomography. This helped save patients from risky procedures, like exploratory surgery: https://ow.ly/eOZt50ZtEzl
👀It’s #NationalEyeExamMonth! This holiday highlights the importance of routine comprehensive eye check-ups, early detection of hidden eye diseases, & overall vision health. 🧪 To celebrate, read about the Lasker Laureates who improved the lives of patients w/ eye diseases: https://ow.ly/svyb50ZtZPt
“Doing science is a lot of work. And you can do a lot of work to address a question that’s not that interesting. Or you could do a lot of work to address a question that could be very interesting,” says physiologist & biochemist David Julius. 🧪Hear more in our newsletter: https://ow.ly/lsZn50ZAHjK
Albert B. Sabin was born #OTD in 1906. He developed a live, oral #polio vaccine, which was administered to 350 million people globally. This reduced poliomyelitis to only a few sporadic cases and won Sabin a Lasker Award. 🧪 Read about discoveries leading to vaccines: https://ow.ly/veUa50ZtEvc
A huge congratulations to NIH Lasker Clinical Research Scholar Jack Shern for earning tenure at the National Institutes of Health! Shern is a physician-scientist in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the NCI. 🧪 Learn more: https://ow.ly/fgBB50ZF0us
James Till was born #OTD in 1931. 🧪 Till won a Basic Medical Research Lasker Award in 2005 for identifying the first-known stem cell, called the blood-forming stem cell. This set the stage for all current research on adult and embryonic stem cells: https://ow.ly/RyvO50ZtEt3
Hans Adolf Krebs was born #OTD in 1900. 🧪He won the 1953 Basic Medical Research Lasker Award for his discovery of the urea and citric acid cycles, which are critical to our understanding of how the body converts food into energy: https://ow.ly/TF5r50ZtEjV The University of Sheffield #KrebsCycle
🧪 What won Stephen Elledge a Lasker Award? Uncovering the DNA damage signaling pathway in complex organisms—an intricately organized system that ensures genetic fidelity and safeguards organismal vitality. 📬 Meet Elledge in our latest newsletter: https://ow.ly/wFXx50ZAHeh
Bernard Fisher was born #OTD in 1918. 🧪 Fisher won a Clinical Medical Research Lasker Award in 1985 for pioneering the lumpectomy for the treatment of breast cancer. This alternative to the radical mastectomy has extended and improved the lives of countless patients: https://ow.ly/LYcn50ZtEhl
James Hillier was born #OTD in 1915. 🔬 He became a Lasker Laureate in 1960 for the design, construction, development, and perfection of the electron microscope. Find out more: http://ow.ly/LkhI50FU9Sr 🧪 Who will win a Lasker Award this year? Stay tuned for our Sept. 9 announcement! #Lasker2026
Founder Mary Lasker lobbied Congress to ensure that biomedical research would receive steady funding. Mary came up with the Lasker Awards to shine a light on how research leads to improvements in #PublicHealth. #Lasker2026 ❤️🩹 🧪 Explore our full list of all Awards & winners: https://ow.ly/Va8L50Zs3tv
Congratulations to NIH Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Nirali Shah and Anish Thomas on big moves in their careers! 🌟 Both Shah and Thomas left the National Cancer Institute at the end of July. 🧪
Roger Wolcott Sperry was born #OTD in 1913. 🧪 🧠 Sperry won a Basic Medical Research Lasker Award for his contributions to our knowledge of brain function. Specifically, he showed that one brain hemisphere isn’t dominant over another, but each is dominant in certain tasks: https://ow.ly/CQmN50ZtE9O
“It’s been such a joy to find fun ways of telling people about these different studies” on elephant seals, 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Colette Benko says. Beyond her research at Stanford University, Colette's a docent at Año Nuevo State Park. Hear why she considers it a fun intro to #SciComm.🧪
🎧 Join us for an interview with UCSF physiologist and biochemist David Julius! He discusses: ✍️ Collaborative writing 📰 Reading obituaries 🧪 The “resolution revolution” …and more in the August newsletter: https://ow.ly/t0zY50ZAH93
After surgery, how can we determine which cancer patients need additional treatment—and which can safely avoid it? 🎬 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Mark Sorin and his colleagues at McGill University are helping to advance this effort. Hear him discuss their approach. #AcademicSky #SciComm 🧪
Lasker Laureate Stephen Elledge was “always at the forefront of the [DNA damage response] field, asking the next questions,” cancer biologist Michael Kastan says. 🧪 Meet Elledge in the latest issue of the Lasker newsletter: https://ow.ly/tbZw50ZAH5K
Leona Baumgartner was born #OTD in 1902. As the first woman to act as the NYC health commissioner, Baumgartner advocated for better health for mothers and children. This won her a Public Service Lasker Award in 1954. #PublicHealth ❤️🩹 🧪 Discover more: https://ow.ly/zeCc50ZtE3B
📬 Our August newsletter is here! Inside: 🧪A feature about Lasker Laureate Stephen Elledge, who uncovered the DNA damage signaling pathway in eukaryotes. 🌶️ A conversation with physiologist and biochemist David Julius on finding beauty in biology: https://ow.ly/vp2W50ZAGY4
🎞️ 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Lindsey Ramirez discusses new findings suggesting that even small amounts of alcohol may be harmful to your health—and explains how these findings fit into the broader process of scientific discovery. 🧪 The University of Illinois System #SciComm #AcademicSky
Happy birthday, Myron Essex! 🎂 🧪 Essex won a Clinical Medical Research Lasker Award in 1986 for his research on the impact of retroviral infection on the immune system, and for his contributions to understanding the cause of AIDS: https://ow.ly/BpkU50ZtE0C Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
It’s #PsoriasisActionMonth. In 2003, Marc Feldmann and Ravinder Maini won a Lasker Award for their work on TNF blockers. Their work inspired a family of drugs that have proven beneficial for illnesses driven by excess inflammation, including psoriasis. 🧪 Find out more: https://ow.ly/LM7V50ZtZbx
"How do potential new cell types relate to the connectivity, organization, and function of cortical circuits?" asks 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Sai Krishna Bhamidipati of UC San Diego. 🧠 Sai shares how scientists are interpreting new discoveries in the field of brain circuitry. #AcademicSky 🧪
Get our next newsletter—straight to your inbox on Tuesday, August 18! 🗓️ 🧪Sign up to receive articles, podcasts, Foundation updates and more: https://laskerfoundation.org/newsletter-signup/
What’s the next big thing in the major histocompatibility complex field? 🤔 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Colette Benko of Stanford University is cautiously optimistic about the potential of vaccines to treat cancer. Hear why. #AcademicSky #SciComm #SciSky 🧪
Frederick Sanger was born #OTD in 1918. He received the 1979 Basic Medical Research Lasker Award for developing a technique for rapid #DNA sequencing, and was a two-time #NobelPrize in Chemistry winner: http://ow.ly/HJPm30li56H 🏆🧪 Who’ll take home a Lasker Award this year? Find out on Sept. 9!
“You can feel like you’re not really making progress for a while. And then all of a sudden, you’ve jumped forward.” 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Max Bucklan of Duke University says science advances in "a stutter-step way"—& that moments of frustration often pave the way for big breakthroughs. 🧪
“Growing up, he really pushed me to be curious … about the world around me.” 🌎 2026 Lasker Video Contest winner Mark Sorin of McGill University shares how his father, a chemical engineer, inspired his passion for science. #AcademicSky #SciComm 🧪
Sneak peek! Here's what to expect in our next newsletter on August 18: 🧬 Meet the Lasker Laureate who uncovered the DNA damage signaling pathway in eukaryotes 🌶️ Hear a #NobelPrize winning physiologist and biochemist reflect on finding beauty in biology 🧪 Subscribe now: https://ow.ly/2AuA50Zu2rB