Member News

Steitz wins Lasker lifetime achievement award

John Arnst
Sept. 1, 2018

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced today the recipients of the 2018 Lasker Awards. Among the four recipients was Joan Steitz, a professor of biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators and a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Joan SteitzAlbert and Mary Lasker Foundation

Steitz won the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science “for four decades of leadership in biomedical science — exemplified by pioneering discoveries in RNA biology, generous mentorship of budding scientists, and vigorous and passionate support of women in science,” according to a news release from the foundation.

Over her pioneering career in RNA biology, for which she won the ASBMB’s Herbert Tabor Research Award in 2015, Steitz has been known as a generous mentor to young scientists and an ardent voice for inclusion in the scientific community. (Watch her Tabor award lecture here.)

Steitz, a former member of the ASBMB Council and a past winner of the society’s Lipmann lectureship, will accept her Lasker award Sept. 24.

The other 2018 Lasker winners were:

  • David Allis and Michael Grunstein, who won the Basic Medical Research Award for their studies of histone modifications and gene expression. (Allis was an ASBMB annual meeting plenary lecturer in 2015. Watch his lecture here. Also, see this ASBMB Today story about diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, a deadly pediatric brain cancer. Allis is quoted.)

  • John B. Glen, who won the Clinical Research Award for the discovery and development of the anesthetic propofol.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
John Arnst

John Arnst was a science writer for ASBMB Today.

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in People

People highlights or most popular articles

ASBMB undergraduate education programs foster tomorrow’s scientific minds
Feature

ASBMB undergraduate education programs foster tomorrow’s scientific minds

July 8, 2025

Learn how the society empowers educators and the next generation of scientists through community as well as accreditation and professional development programs that support evidence-based teaching and inclusive pedagogy.

Honors for Gagna and Sundquist
Member News

Honors for Gagna and Sundquist

July 7, 2025

Claude Gagna is being honored for the diagnostic tool he developed that uses AI to streamline diagnostics. Wesley Sundquist is being honored for his role in finding that HIV’s capsid was a target for treatment.

Gaze into the proteomics crystal ball
In-person Conference

Gaze into the proteomics crystal ball

July 1, 2025

The 15th International Symposium on Proteomics in the Life Sciences symposium will be held August 17–21 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bassler receives National Medal of Science
Member News

Bassler receives National Medal of Science

June 30, 2025

She was recognized for her research on the molecular mechanisms bacteria use for intercellular communication.

2025 ASBMB election results
Society News

2025 ASBMB election results

June 25, 2025

Learn about the new president, secretary, Council members and committee members.

2025 PROLAB awardees announced
Society News

2025 PROLAB awardees announced

June 24, 2025

Seven early-career scientists receive grants to advance their research by working in North American labs.