Nobel Prize-winning scientist wins Royal Society’s most prestigious scientific award
28 August 2024Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist, Sir Gregory Paul Winter CBE FRS FMedSci, best known for his work on monoclonal antibodies, has been named as this year’s recipient of the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific award.
The Royal Society’s Copley Medal, awarded for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science, was first awarded in 1731. Previous recipients have included Louis Pasteur, Dorothy Hodgkin, Albert Einstein, and Charles Darwin. Cosmologist and astrophysicist, as well as current UK Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees FRS, was last year’s recipient.
Sir Gregory, a former Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was chosen for pioneering protein engineering, especially antibody engineering for the successful production of therapeutic antibodies.
Accepting the Medal, he said: “It is such an honour to be awarded this ancient prize and find myself on the same scroll as the greatest scientists; such a delight to find myself in the same company as friends and former mentors; and such a relief not to be asked for a manuscript!”
Sir Gregory was inspired to pursue a career in science aged seven when a local scientist visited his primary school in Ghana with a Geiger counter, which fascinated him. He went on to be wowed by experimental science throughout his school years at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne.
He achieved a scholarship to study Natural Sciences at Trinity College Cambridge, graduating in 1973.
He went on to pursue a career at the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Centre for Protein Engineering where he specialised in protein and nucleic acid sequencing. He played an important role in sequencing the genome of influenza before inventing techniques for the industrial production of human antibodies for therapeutic purposes. Humanised monoclonal antibodies now make up most of the antibody-based drugs on the market today and include the blockbuster antibodies, Keytruda and Humira.
Sir Gregory, who has successfully spun out several companies including Cambridge Antibody Technology, Domantis and Bicycle Therapeutics, was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 1987, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2006, as well as being a Fellow or Honorary Fellow of many other professional organisations. He received a Knighthood for services to molecular biology in 2004 and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2018.
He is among 25 Royal Society medals and awards winners this year. Others include Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS who jointly receive the Royal Medal (Applied) for inventing anti-TNF therapy to treat rheumatoid arthritis, bringing it from bench to bedside in one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine. Their research laid the groundwork for biologics to improve the quality of life for millions of people.
Sir Michael Stratton, FMedSci FRS, head of the Cancer Genome Project and former head of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, receives the Royal Medal (Biological) for his foundational contributions to cancer genomics, the discovery of cancer genes and the identification of mutational signatures, which have transformed our understanding of cancer and somatic mutation; Dr Jess Wade URF, from Imperial College London, receives the Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture for her achievements in functional materials and an outstanding project proposal which will support early career women to pursue academic careers in materials science.
The Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture is awarded to Professor Salim Abdool Karim FRS for his scientific leadership, policy advice, epidemiological analyses, and articulate public education, while actively countering disinformation in Africa, particularly South Africa, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
And the Royal Society Hauksbee Award goes to school science technician, Lisa Alford, from Tonbridge School in Kent, for her extraordinary commitment to fostering engagement in science and promoting collaboration between schools.
Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society said, “The scope of scientific knowledge and experience in this year’s line-up is amazing. These outstanding researchers, individuals and teams have contributed to our collective scientific endeavour and helped further our understanding of the world around us.
“I am proud to celebrate outstanding science and offer my congratulations to all the 2024 recipients of the Royal Society’s medals and awards.”
The full list of 2024 winners
Premier Awards
Copley Medal
Sir Gregory Paul Winter CBE FRS FMedSci, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, for pioneering protein engineering, especially antibody engineering and for the successful production of therapeutic antibodies.
Bakerian Medal and Lecture
Professor Ingrid Daubechies, Duke University, for her outstanding work on wavelets and image compression and her exceptional contributions to a wide spectrum of physical, technological, and mathematical applications.
Croonian Medal and Lecture
Professor Edith Heard FRS, Collège de France, for being a leading figure in X-chromosome biology, including the epigenetic mechanisms behind X-inactivation which are critical for this important part of mammalian biology.
Royal Medal (Physical)
Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS, Imperial College London, for extraordinary leadership and profound impact on all phases of the monumental CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, including the crucial discovery of the Higgs boson through its decays to two photons.
Royal Medal (Biological)
Sir Michael Stratton, FMedSci FRS, Wellcome Sangar Institute, for his foundational contributions to cancer genomics, the discovery of cancer genes and the identification of mutational signatures, which have transformed our understanding of cancer and somatic mutation.
Royal Medal (Applied)
Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS, Imperial College London, and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS, University of Oxford, for inventing anti-TNF therapy to treat rheumatoid arthritis, bringing their therapeutic from bench to bedside in one of the biggest success stories in modern medicine, and laying the groundwork for biologics to improve the quality of life for millions of people.
Prize Lectures
Milner Award and Lecture
Professor Iryna Gurevych, Technical University of Darmstadt, for her major contributions to natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence that combine deep understanding of human language and cognitive faculty with the latest paradigms in machine learning.
Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture
Dr Jessica Wade, Imperial College London, for her achievements in functional materials and her outstanding project which will support early career women scientists to pursue academic careers in materials sciences.
Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture
Professor Salim Safurdeen Abdool Karim, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, for his scientific leadership, policy advice, epidemiological analyses, and articulate public education, while actively countering disinformation in Africa, particularly South Africa, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
David Attenborough Award and Lecture
Professor Hannah Fry, University College London, for her prolific science communication activity as the foremost populariser of maths in the country who continues to inspire young people to pursue maths and physics in fun and exciting ways.
Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture
Professor Matthew Cobb, University of Manchester, for his work documenting the history of biology as both an author and broadcaster.
Royal Society Africa Prize
Professor Ali Baklouti, University of Sfax, Tunisia, for his work on non-commutative harmonic analysis and geometry on homogeneous spaces.
Francis Crick Medal and Lecture
Professor Sam Behjati, Wellcome Sanger Institute, for fundamental discoveries into the developmental roots of childhood cancer.
Ferrier Medal and Lecture
Professor Gillian Bates FRS, University College London, for her work in understanding the molecular basis of Huntington’s disease and consistently producing highly impactful findings which have moulded the course of this field.
Awards
Armourers and Brasiers Company Prize
Dame Molly Stevens DBE FREng FRS, University of Oxford, for pioneering nanomaterials for ultrasensitive disease diagnostics and advanced therapeutic delivery for the benefit of individuals and society at a global level.
Athena Prize
In2STEM Team, In2scienceUK, for their longstanding commitment to and proven impact in supporting young people from low socio-economic backgrounds to pursue STEM careers.
Gabor Medal
Professor Emily Rayfield, University of Bristol, for her pioneering a new, cross-disciplinary era of engineering-informed computational palaeobiology.
Royal Society Hauksbee Award
Lisa Alford, Tonbridge School, for her extraordinary commitment to fostering engagement in science and promoting collaboration between schools.
Buchanan Medal
Professor Jane Visvader FRS and Professor Geoff Lindeman, Walter Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia, for their discoveries around breast stem and progenitor cells and using this knowledge to discover new approaches to breast cancer treatment and prevention.
Darwin Medal
Professor Paul Sharp FRS, University of Edinburgh, for his work addressing the origins and evolution of HIV and the malaria parasite Plasmodium.
Davy Medal
Professor Véronique Gouverneur FRS, University of Oxford, for her contributions to the field of fluorine chemistry with applications in both medicine and positron emission tomography imaging.
Hughes Medal
Professor Linda Nazar FRS, University of Waterloo, Canada, for her seminal contributions to the field of solid-state electrochemistry, and electrochemical energy storage.
Royal Society Research Culture Award
Dr Kate Shaw, University of Sussex and International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), for her substantial impact on improving equality, diversity and inclusion through education, outreach, communication, and open data.
Rumford Medal
Professor Tony Bell FRS, University of Oxford, for his seminal contributions to theoretical developments of cosmic ray acceleration and origins.
Sylvester Medal
Professor Philip Maini FRS, University of Oxford, for his contributions to mathematical biology, especially the interdisciplinary modelling of biomedical phenomena and systems.