Whitehead’s Jaenisch to receive prestigious Otto Warburg Medal

The German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) will present this year’s Otto Warburg Medal to Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch later this month.
 
Presented annually since 1963, the award is meant to encourage and recognize pioneering achievements in fundamental biochemical and molecular biological research. According to the GBM, Jaenisch is being recognized for “his groundbreaking work in the field of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in mammalian development and disease. He is known worldwide for his research on embryonic stem cell biology.”
 
Named in honor of German biochemist Otto Heinrich Warburg, recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize for Medicine, the Warburg Medal is regarded as the highest award for biochemists and molecular biologists in Germany. Jaenisch will formally receive the medal, along with a prize of 25,000 euros, at a special ceremony March 28 at a scientific colloquium in Mosbach, Germany. Jaenisch becomes the third Whitehead Member to receive the Warburg Medal. Robert Weinberg was the 2007 recipient, while Member Susan Lindquist was so honored in 2008.