APRIL 10, 2017
Susumu Tonegawa, Lasker laureate, director of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, and former director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, shares his thoughts on what makes the RIKEN Institute special and why collaboration occurs naturally at the Picower Institute.
APRIL 9, 2017
From the archives: Geneticist and Lasker laureate Philip Leder discusses his work on solving the genetic code, why patents are important, and what drives his research.
2017 Spring
Learn about 21st-century healthcare—precision medicine and systems medicine—and how the Lasker Laureates who discovered the genetic basis of antibody diversity are leading the way. Read exclusive interviews with Leroy Hood, Susumu Tonegawa, and Philip Leder
DEC. 15, 2016
From the community: High-School Senior, aspiring scientists and student cancer researcher, Langley Grace Wallace, writes about Mary Lasker's role as a catalyst for the National Cancer Act of 1971 and her impact on the nation's elite scientists.
NOV. 15, 2016
What is the role of science philanthropy today? How does private investment in science and technology compare to that of the government, and what challenges stand in the way of more support for basic research?
NOV. 15, 2016
Jim and Marilyn Simons talk about establishing and running the Simons Foundation — one of the most dynamic science foundations based in New York — and how they see the role of philanthropy in supporting science.
NOV. 15, 2016
Nancy Wexler’s journey to find the gene that causes Huntington’s disease began in 1968 when her mother was diagnosed with the condition. It took years of fundraising, collaboration, and conferences, and months spent in the stilt villages of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela collecting samples, to find the answer.
NOV. 15, 2016
Robert Tjian, the former president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, discusses whether it’s better to fund people or projects, how to encourage collaboration, and what questions in biology excite him most today.
NOV. 14, 2016
Senator Mark Hatfield received the Albert Lasker Public Service Award for his enduring leadership in support of biomedical research.
2016 Fall
Join the discussion about science funding. We explore the role of science philanthropy and government in funding basic research, talk to former HHMI president Robert Tijan about funding people versus projects, and learn how Lasker Laureate Nancy Wexler persevered in her hunt for the Huntington’s gene before there was funding for that type of research.
