They reward “the most brilliant minds” with the so-called Oscars of science

The most brilliant minds in the world were awarded the Breakthrough Awards, called Oscars of scienceat a gala held on Saturday at the Academy Museum of Motion Picture in Los Angeles, California, attended by researchers, movie stars and technology industry leaders.

Among the winners, the French-Canadian scientist Michel Sadelain stands out, who received the Breakthrough Prize for his research on the genetic modification of immune cells to fight cancer.

Their work led to the development of a new form of therapy called CAR-T, which has shown exceptional effectiveness against certain blood cancers.

Sadelain will share the $3 million prize with American immunologist Carl June, who also independently led groundbreaking research in that field.

It is an extraordinary recognition, the French-Canadian told AFP on the red carpet at the Oscars Museum. “It’s an even greater honor, because my scientific colleagues told me for a long time that it would never work.

The greatest pleasure, however, is seeing patients who no longer had a chance and who thank us because they are alive thanks to chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T)he added.

Sadelain is a genetic engineer; He studied medicine in Paris and then immunology in Canada, before undertaking postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989.

After settling at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, he developed a way to use a deactivated virus to genetically reprogram human T cells so that they developed claw-like structures called antigen receptors and could attack cancer cells in a way specific.

Beyond recognizing cancer, CAR-T cells received genetic instructions to build an army within the body to eliminate the enemy.

A half-dozen approved CAR-T cell therapies are currently available in the United States, and hundreds more trials are underway.

The treatment has been shown to be effective against lymphoma, certain leukemias and myeloma, a serious and complex blood cancer. Sadelain hopes that the investigation will allow apply this treatment to other cancers. One of the main challenges is to reduce the cost of treatment, which is more than 500 thousand dollars.

Scientists Ellen Sidransk, Thomas Gasser and Andrew Singleton won an award for discovering the most common genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease.

Spanish chemist Sabine Hadida, originally from Barcelona, ​​also stood out, who was awarded along with her colleagues Paul Negulescu and Fredrick Van Goor for their work, which seeks to develop effective medications to treat the hidden causes of cystic fibrosis.

In the physics category, John Cardy and Alexander Zamolodchikov were recognized for their theories on the foundations of matter, which can be applied in areas as diverse as the study of black holes and quantum computing.

Physicists Hidetoshi Katori and Jun Ye were honored for creating the most accurate timekeeping device in history.

In the field of mathematics, Simon Brendle, from Columbia University, was awarded for his contributions in the field of differential geometry.

Twelve young researchers, including the Chilean Laura M. Pérez and the Colombian Paola Pinilla, won six New Horizons awards, worth $100,000 each.

The total amount of prizes awarded this year was $15.75 million, bringing the amount awarded in Breakthrough history to $308 million.

The award ceremony brought together renowned actors, including Robert Downey Jr, Edward Norton, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Jessica Chastain.

The Breakthrough Awards were established in 2010 and recognize researchers in fields including life sciences, fundamental physics and mathematics; It is presented as the Silicon Valley-backed answer to the Nobel Prize. Its founding sponsors include Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg.