2019 Ceremony
PEARL MEISTER GREENGARD PRIZE
An International Award Recognizing Outstanding Women in Biomedical Research
6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Ceremony
7:30 – 8:00 p.m. Reception
Free Admission
Caspary Auditorium
1230 York Avenue at 66th Street
New York City
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2019 PRIZE RECIPIENT
Xiaowei Zhuang, Ph.D.
David B. Arnold Professor of Science
Harvard University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Xiaowei Zhuang pioneered the development of single-molecule, super-resolution, and genomic-scale imaging methods for the exploration of biological systems. She invented STochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), one of the first and most widely used super-resolution imaging methods. Using fluorescent probes that are activated at different times, the STORM technology produces images with much higher resolution than can be obtained with conventional fluorescent microscopy. This groundbreaking invention facilitated Dr. Zhuang’s discovery of novel cellular structures. More recently, she invented an imaging method capable of measuring the expression levels and spatial distributions of RNAs at the genome scale in single cells. She has applied this method, called MERFISH, to study gene expression regulation in cells, as well as cell organization and function in tissues at the systems level.
Dr. Zhuang graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China and received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. After completing her postdoctoral training in biophysics at Stanford University, she joined the faculty of Harvard University, where she was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 2005. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a 2003 MacArthur Fellow, and the recipient of many other honors, including the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences Award in Scientific Discovery, and the Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics.
SPECIAL GUEST PRESENTER
The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, awarded annually by The Rockefeller University, was established by the late Dr. Paul Greengard, who served as the University’s Vincent Astor Professor, and his wife, the sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard. Dr. Greengard donated his monetary share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine to Rockefeller and, in partnership with generous supporters of the University, created this major international prize. The prize is name in memory of Dr. Greengard’s mother, who died giving birth to him.
