The 2025 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
Dirk Görlich (Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences)
Steven L. McKnight (UT Southwestern Medical Center)
For discoveries that exposed the structures and functions of low-complexity domains within protein sequences, revealing new principles of intracellular transport and cellular organization
The 2025 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
Michael J. Welsh (University of Iowa)
Jesús (Tito) González (Formerly, Vertex Pharmaceuticals)
Paul A. Negulescu (Vertex Pharmaceuticals)
For their key roles in developing a novel treatment for cystic fibrosis – a triple-drug combination that saves the lives of people with this lethal genetic disease
The 2025 Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science
Lucy Shapiro (Stanford University)
For a 55-year career in biomedical science – honored for discovering how bacteria coordinate their genetic logic in time and space to generate distinct daughter cells; for founding Stanford’s distinguished Department of Developmental Biology; and for exemplary leadership at the national level
(New York, September 11, 2025) -- The Lasker Foundation today announced the winners of its 2025 Lasker Awards: Dirk Görlich and Steven L. McKnight will receive the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award; Michael J. Welsh, Jesús (Tito) González, and Paul A. Negulescu will receive the Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award; and Lucy Shapiro will receive the Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science.
Established in 1945 by pioneering biomedical research advocates, Albert and Mary Lasker, the Lasker Awards are now widely regarded as America’s preeminent biomedical research prize. The awards carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category. They will be presented at a gala ceremony in New York City on Friday, September 19, 2025. More information – including detailed scientific back stories and videos documenting laureates’ achievements – is available at laskerfoundation.org.
The 2025 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
The 2025 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award honors Dirk Görlich and Steven L. McKnight for revolutionizing our understanding of low-complexity domains (LCDs) within protein sequences. The existence of LCDs has been known for years, yet conventional wisdom dismissed them as disordered and functionally irrelevant regions of the protein. Görlich and McKnight’s research led to new understanding of the LCDs’ structures and their critical roles in cellular organization. Through imaginative and ingenious experimentation conducted in separate labs over many years, McKnight and Görlich elucidated how LCDs enable proteins to form dynamic, reversible structures that support essential physiological processes.
Remarkably, 15-20% of eukaryotic proteins contain these domains. Therefore, the discoveries of Görlich and McKnight provide fundamental insights into the mechanisms by which cells create flexible organizational systems beyond traditional membrane-bound organelles.
Görlich's groundbreaking work focused on nuclear transport, solving a paradox of how large molecules move between the nucleus and cytoplasm. McKnight discovered that proteins use LCDs to form reversible assemblies such as RNA granules. His research showed that disease mutations can stabilize these normally transient interactions, leading to pathological aggregation. Together, their work illuminates how cells harness weak molecular interactions for dynamic regulation, opening new avenues for understanding cellular organization and amyloid-related, neurodegenerative diseases.
>> Read the full citation
>> Watch video
The 2025 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
The 2025 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award honors Michael Welsh, Jesús (Tito) González, and Paul A. Negulescu for their key roles in the development of a novel, life-saving treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF) – namely, a triple-drug combination therapy, Trikafta®, that has helped countless people with this lethal genetic disease breathe freely. Historically, most children with CF did not survive early childhood, and even by 2010, half of those with the illness died before age 40. The work of González, Negulescu, and Welsh has improved quality of life for the vast majority of people diagnosed with CF, and it extends life spans by decades.
More than fifty years after the initial discovery and identification of what became known as cystic fibrosis, Welsh studied and tested the hallmarks of the most common associated mutation, ∆F508, in the gene that encodes the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). His early 1990s investigations led to the discovery that CFTR carrying the ∆F508 defect could attain some desired functionality at low temperatures. This finding suggested that interventions for “tweaking” proteins with small molecules might mimic the effects of the cool conditions. González, working at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, invented a way to use fluorescent resonance energy transfer technology (FRET) to test millions of molecules for their protein-modulating effects. Negulescu conceived and led the drug discovery program that ultimately involved the synthesis and optimization of tens of thousands of molecular candidates to identify “correctors” and “potentiators” that could restore CFTR protein function.
Their research, over decades, culminated in Trikafta®, a triple-drug combination approved in 2019 that transformed CF from a death sentence into a manageable condition for more than 90% of people with the disease. Their scientific innovations are helping afford those with CF the chance to thrive today and to plan vibrant futures.
>> Read the full citation
>> Watch video
The 2025 Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science
The 2025 Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science honors Lucy Shapiro for a distinguished 55-year career in biomedical science, during which she transformed our understanding of the genetic logic that controls a living cell’s ability to create two different daugher cells—with implications for all cellular development. Her visionary work overturned scientific orthodoxy by underscoring the importance of spatial organization in bacterial cells, which had previously been viewed as sacs of jumbled enzymes.
She was tapped to be the founding chair of Stanford's Department of Developmental Biology in 1989. Under her leadership, the department became a powerhouse with 14 of 28 tenured faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
On the world stage, Shapiro has advised global leaders on antibiotic resistance, emerging infectious diseases, and biological warfare. In 1998, at President Clinton’s invitation, she addressed his cabinet on bioterrorism threats, and emphasized that nature (with deadly infections and mutations) is a superior genetic engineer to any bioterrorist.
She co-founded two biotechnology companies, Anacor Pharmaceuticals and Boragen (now 5Metis), developing innovative boron-based antifungal compounds for human use and agricultural applications.
Shapiro has excelled as an investigator, academic leader, mentor, and entrepreneur. Her contributions to understanding cellular life and to the scientific community are invaluable, leaving an impact for generations.
>> Read the full citation
>> Watch video
About the Lasker Awards: Since 1945, the Lasker Foundation has awarded more than 400 prizes through the Lasker Awards, renowned as America’s preeminent biomedical research prize. The Lasker Awards recognize the contributions of leaders who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of human disease. Over the years, 101 Lasker Laureates have also received the Nobel Prize, including 13 since 2018.
More details on the Lasker Award recipients, the full citations for each award category, video interviews and photos of the awardees, and additional information on the Foundation are available at laskerfoundation.org.
About the Lasker Foundation: Established in 1942 by Albert and Mary Lasker, The Lasker Foundation seeks to increase support for biomedical research by celebrating the power of biomedical science to save and improve human lives. Through its internationally renowned Lasker Awards, educational initiatives, and public advocacy, the Foundation recognizes the most important achievements in science and public service, supports and encourages the scientific leaders of tomorrow, and raises awareness of the ever-present need for research funding. The Foundation is committed to inspiring robust and sustained support for biomedical research, fueled by Mary Lasker’s call to action: “If you think research is expensive, try disease.” More information at laskerfoundation.org.
###