On September 14, 2023, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced the winners of the 2024 awards, honoring an esteemed group of the world’s researchers for their impactful scientific discoveries, including a subset responsible for substantial progress in the understanding and treatment of major diseases. The Breakthrough Prize—referred to by some as the “Oscars of Science”—was created to celebrate the advances of our scientific age by founding sponsors Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The latest group of laureates includes 11 winners of the Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics, sharing five $3 million prizes between them.
In addition to the monetary award, the 2024 Breakthrough laureates will be honored at an annual ceremony that is broadcast globally in April 2024.
Life Sciences Laureates
Carl June, MD
Michel Sadelain, MD
This year’s Life Sciences laureates include honorees recognized for key advances in the research and treatment of cancer. Carl June, MD, and Michel Sadelain, MD, genetically engineered T cells with synthetic receptors—chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)—to instruct T cells to recognize the cancer cells of individual patients. These CAR T cells have been success against hematologic cancers, including certain types of leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Dr. June is the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Dr. Sadelain is Founding Director of the Center for Cell Engineering and Head of the Gene Transfer and Gene Expression Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where he also holds the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair.
For more information about the awards and a full list of all of the 2024 recipients, visit breakthroughprize.org.
