Bonnie Bassler (center, back row) with fellow researchers of the Bassler Lab from summer 2022. Photo by C. Todd Reichart Written by Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University Oct. 4, 2023 Today, the Albany Med Health System announced that Bonnie Bassler, Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology & Chair, also Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been awarded the 2023 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. Bassler shares the prize with Jeffrey I. Gordon of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Dennis L. Kasper of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The award recognizes the trio as "scientists whose research has advanced the study and understanding of microbiomes and bacteria and how they communicate in the body and cause or prevent disease." The Albany Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research is one of the largest awards in medicine and science in the United States. The $500,000 prize has been awarded annually since 2001 for exceptional work in medicine and biomedical research. It was established by the late Morris “Marty” Silverman, a businessman from Troy, N.Y., to honor scientists whose work has translated from “the bench to the bedside” resulting in better outcomes for patients. Prior recipients include this week's Nobel laureates Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, CRISPR pioneers Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna, and Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. See the announcement here: https://www.albanymed.org/albany-medical-center/albany-prize/