THE BLAVATNIK AWARDS For Young Scientists

N E R AT I O N O T G E F S C E X I E N N T E I F H I C T G I N I N N V O I V R A D T I O N

2021 The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists honor exceptional young scientists and engineers by celebrating their extraordinary achievements, recognizing outstanding promise, and accelerating innovation through unrestricted funding. Table of Contents

Key Features...... 4

Our History...... 6

Blavatnik Regional Awards...... 8

Blavatnik National Awards...... 10

Blavatnik Awards in the ...... 12

Blavatnik Awards in Israel...... 14

Blavatnik Science Scholars...... 16

In the News...... 18

Tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic...... 19

“Encouraging and supporting young scientists is essential if we are to successfully address society’s challenges. By honoring these young individuals and their achievements we are helping to promote the breakthroughs in science and technology that will define how our world Established by: Administered by: Blavatnik Awards in Israel, will look over the next century.” in collaboration with: LEN BLAVATNIK FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN BLAVATNIK 2 ACCESS INDUSTRIES AND BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION FAMILY FOUNDATION

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Key Features of A

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D R S Open to researchers working in more than 36 different R T C N E

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I KNOWS NO M  C  O The Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in  A N L F U A Chemistry R S BORDERS O C IR A T  I N R  S C IA A A The Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in R E  IN I A  B H D E G E C IN Physical Sciences & Engineering L E LA  • • N  R R A O I M US AD Y C E T A  B CAN R C T A N ELGIUM  GA O The Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in H LY Y N R E  G HU O R  J RE  M Life Sciences LA A ECE ONG  N PA  HONG K O  D N  XIC D S LE ME N • Recognize and support outstanding young scientists and • N BANO SIA  LA EW N • MALAY PO  engineers early in their careers when additional funding Z E  A R EA TIN KI O LAND LES A and recognition have the greatest impact on their work. MA  NIGERIA  PA OV NI SL A  RE  RUSS APO  • Honorees are selected based on the quality, novelty, and IA  SERBIA  SING EA OR impact of their research, and their potential for further SLO H K VEN OUT  significant contributions to science. IA  SOUT FRICA  S UK S H A Y  PAI RKE N  S  TU • Offer the largest unrestricted prizes ever created WITZER AIWAN LAND  T AN for early-career scientists. U KIST KRA UZBE INE  URUGUAY  USA  • Connect alumni with a network of their peers throughout the world to foster collaboration.

“Young scientists drive scientific discovery and innovation. They feel urgency and impatience. They think creatively and boldly. While we must support promising scientists at all levels, young “Past and present Blavatnik Scholars are some of scientists are a critical resource that we must nurture the top young scientists in the world. We are proud for the good of the whole scientific enterprise.” to celebrate them and their achievements, and to ERIC S. LANDER showcase their work to the world.” DIRECTOR, UNITED STATES OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY NICHOLAS B. DIRKS MEMBER, BLAVATNIK NATIONAL AWARDS PRESIDENT AND CEO SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

4 5 Our THE BLAVATNIK The Blavatnik National Awards are created to AWARDS 2014 honor faculty scientists 2016 CELEBRATE THEIR 2018 2020 History across the United States, and the first Laureates 10TH Blavatnik Scholars in Life Sciences, Physical ANNIVERSARY! The first international Blavatnik Awards are take on the COVID-19 Sciences & Engineering, pandemic, discovering and Chemistry are conferred, recognizing outstanding academic new ways to predict announced. Each Laureate and detect disease The Blavatnik Awards are created to faculty-level scientists and receives a $250,000 prize. spread, identifying celebrate the outstanding postdoctoral engineers in the United effective treatments, and 2007 and faculty scientists in New York, The Blavatnik Regional Kingdom and in Israel. researching new vaccine New Jersey, and Connecticut. Awards continue to honor postdoctoral scientists in technologies. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

2021

THE BLAVATNIK 2017 2018 AWARDS CELEBRATE THEIR

The Blavatnik Family Foundation announces Three women are named 15TH ANNIVERSARY! expansion of the Blavatnik Awards to the United Blavatnik Regional Awards Kingdom and Israel. In Israel, the New York Winners, marking the first By the close of 2021, the The Blavatnik Family The Blavatnik Family Foundation Academy of Sciences collaborates with the time in Blavatnik Awards Blavatnik Awards will Foundation announces and the New York Academy of Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities history that the top prize have recognized 359 2012 doubling of the prize 2014 Sciences host the first annual in administering the awards. is concurrently awarded young scientists and money for Winners and Blavatnik Science Symposium. to female scientists in engineers and awarded Finalists starting in 2013. each of the three prizes totaling over disciplinary categories. US$11.9 million.

6 7 Meet the 2020 Blavatnik Awards 2020 Blavatnik Regional Winners NING JIA Regional Awards 2020 Regional Winner in Chemistry Southern University of Science and Technology in China (formerly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) Ning Jia, PhD, has unlocked key biological mechanisms that govern the function of enzymes for Young Scientists and CRISPR-Cas systems, such as those used in gene editing. Jia’s research has provided scientists with an enhanced understanding of the functions and structure of individual atoms in biological molecules. In the case of her work on CRISPR-Cas systems, this detailed Acknowledge and celebrate the excellence knowledge is necessary if we are to demonstrate that gene-editing can be used in the of outstanding postdoctoral scientists future to cure certain genetic diseases. and engineers who work in New York, “If you want to have a career in the sciences, you have to enjoy science. Then, you will love spending New Jersey, and Connecticut. your time on it. My advisor Dinshaw Patel is a mentor for me, because his continuous passion in science inspires me.”

Young scientists are nominated by research institutions across the New York region, and Winners and Finalists are selected by a group of senior scientists and engineers ADRIAN PRICE-WHELAN from institutions in this Tri-State Area. 2020 Regional Winner in Physical Sciences & Engineering Winners are awarded US$30,000 each and Flatiron Institute The innovative use of advanced statistical analysis and computational techniques by Adrian Finalists are awarded US$10,000 each in Price-Whelan, PhD, has unlocked one of the biggest mysteries of the universe—dark matter. unrestricted funds. Utilizing satellite data to analyze the motions of stars throughout the outer regions of the Milky Way, Price-Whelan’s work has provided the first clear evidence of dark matter substructure in the outskirts of our galaxy.

“Mentorship is one of the most consequential endeavors we undertake as scientists. My own mentors have filled many different roles in my career, providing both scientific guidance and encouragement, and serving as important role models. We each deserve to have, and should be expected to provide, mentorship experiences that empower ourselves and our mentees to help all scientists become more equitable, inclusive, and successful.”

ANTONIO FERNÁNDEZ-RUIZ 2020 Regional Winner in Life Sciences Cornell University (formerly at New York University) Antonio Fernández-Ruiz, PhD, has expanded our understanding of how neurons in the brain coordinate their activity to support our ability to form and recall memories. By uncovering ABOVE: 2018 Blavatnik Regional the mechanisms of this coordinated activity in the brain, Fernández-Ruiz was also able to Awards Winner in Physical Sciences alter how neurons are reactivated, demonstrating that memory can be improved artificially. & Engineering, Lingyan Shi. “Science is not just a job. It is a lifestyle, and an incredibly fulfilling one. Pursuing an academic career, nowadays, presents a path full of difficulties and obstacles, and what always gave LEFT: 2019 Blavatnik Regional Awards honorees with Brooke Grindlinger, me strength was to remember the initial motivation that drew me into science—the need to Chief Scientific Officer, New York understand the world around us.” Academy of Sciences, and Peter Thorén, Executive Vice President, Access Industries. 8 9 Meet the 2021 Blavatnik Awards 2021 Blavatnik National Laureates MIRCEA DINCĂ National Awards 2021 National Laureate in Chemistry Massachusetts Institute of Technology Most materials that conduct electricity are densely packed metals. Inorganic chemist Mircea Dincă, PhD, has proven that certain porous materials—metal-organic frameworks for Young Scientists (or MOFs)—can also conduct electricity and be used in fuel cells and supercapacitors, which play critical roles in green technology systems. Taking inspiration from how individual molecules can conduct electricity, Dincă achieved a conducting MOF by weaving Celebrate America’s most innovative and a network of conducting molecules into a porous solid. Dincă has operated his MOFs as promising faculty-rank scientists and supercapacitors and can retain performance after repeated use, an essential property for their use in commercial products. He is now partnering with Lamborghini to incorporate engineers. MOFs for in future electric supercars.

“What cool, new materials would I find if I could manipulate solids at the molecular level? Having a Nominations are accepted from US-based job asking curiosity-driven questions is a privilege; the Blavatnik Award is wonderful reassurance that curiosity-driven work is still important in our metric-driven culture.” research institutions and the Blavatnik National Awards Scientific Advisory Council. Every year, one nominee in each category is named a Blavatnik ANDREA ALÙ 2021 National Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering National Awards Laureate and awarded Advanced Science Research Center, The Graduate Center, US$250,000 in unrestricted funds, with The City University of New York additional nominees recognized as Engineer and physicist Andrea Alù, PhD, is challenging the limits of materials science, influencing Finalists. Laureates and Finalists are a wide range of engineering applications in electromagnetics, nano-optics, and acoustics. By tailoring the interactions of electromagnetic and acoustic waves with artificial materials, Alù is selected by a jury composed of some of demonstrating, both theoretically and experimentally, how cleverly designed meta-materials can push the boundaries of physics. His work leads to new and enhanced material technologies with the United States’ most distinguished potential applications that include cellular communications, energy harvesting, radar cloaking, scientists and engineers. optical computing, and nano-optics.

“This fantastic recognition represents a great honor for me and my research group, and a unique encouragement to continue pursuing our curiosity-driven research into the exciting opportunities enabled by engineered materials and meta-materials.“

KAY M. TYE 2021 National Laureate in Life Sciences Salk Institute for Biological Studies Problems in processing reward, fear, and learning can cause a range of psychiatric disorders. “Every year we see an increasing pool of outstanding candidates emerge in the Neuroscientist Kay M. Tye, PhD, investigates the neural circuitry that drives these emotions and cognitive abilities to understand addiction and depression. She discovered a neural Blavatnik National Awards selection, and it is indicative of the kind of prestige and pathway that underlies an animal’s willingness to engage in compulsive, reward-seeking visibility these Awards have and continue to gain.” behaviors despite negative consequences—a pattern observed in binge-eating and alcohol use disorders. This neural circuitry could be a target for therapeutic interventions. Tye’s ELAINE FUCHS addiction research identified a collection of neurons that serve as a biomarker that predicts NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE RECIPIENT whether an animal will develop compulsive binge-drinking behavior, even before being REBECCA C. LANCEFIELD PROFESSOR OF MAMMALIAN CELL BIOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT exposed to alcohol. THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY “It is an incredible honor for both myself and my incredible research team with whom I feel CHAIR, 2021 BLAVATNIK NATIONAL AWARDS LIFE SCIENCES JURY privileged to work. We are committed to continuing our efforts to understand the neural mechanisms underlying emotional and social processing.”

10 11 Meet the 2021 Blavatnik Awards 2021 Blavatnik Laureates in the United Kingdom

DANIELE LEONORI Awards for Young 2021 United Kingdom Laureate in Chemistry The University of Manchester Nearly all molecules of interest to chemists, including drug candidates and agrochemicals, contain the elements carbon and nitrogen. However, bonds between these two atoms are Scientists in the not always easy to form in the laboratory. Daniele Leonori, PhD, has shown that it is possible to form these strong bonds using visible light to catalyze, or accelerate, the chemical reaction. This technique is starting to be applied by pharmaceutical companies to facilitate United Kingdom new and efficient routes to lifesaving drugs and other valuable molecules. “I am deeply honored to be named the Blavatnik Laureate in Chemistry for the United Kingdom and I owe this success to my outstanding students and postdoctoral researchers. It is their hard Recognize and support outstanding work and continuous ability to surprise me with new ways to look at chemistry that has led to all young scientists and engineers working in of our major discoveries.” , Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. SINÉAD FARRINGTON 2021 United Kingdom Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering The University of Edinburgh Talented young academic staff across the Sinéad Farrington, PhD, is a leading particle physicist working to understand how nature UK are nominated by their university or works at its most fundamental level. She led a team of over 100 physicists at the ATLAS experiment at CERN, which in 2013 announced the first direct measurement of a Higgs research institution, or by members of the boson interacting with particles that make up matter in the universe, known as fermions. Blavatnik Awards UK Scientific Advisory Discovered only a year earlier by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN, the Higgs boson is believed to give mass to all fermions through Yukawa interactions. The 2013 Council. Each year, one nominee in each measurement provided the first direct experimental confirmation of Yukawa interactions by establishing the Higgs boson’s interaction with a type of fermion known as a tau lepton. She category is named a Blavatnik Awards UK continues to lead efforts to explore the frontiers of particle physics, focusing on searches for Laureate and awarded US$100,000 in new particles beyond the Standard Model and developing future capabilities of ATLAS. unrestricted funds, with two Finalists in “High energy physics is a collaborative endeavor involving very talented individuals from around the each category each receiving US$30,000 in world, working together to build machines on a grand scale, and to analyze the data they generate to help us understand how the universe works at its deepest levels. I am privileged to have been unrestricted funds. Laureates and Finalists able to contribute to this endeavor and to help provide some pieces of nature’s great puzzle.” are selected by a jury of distinguished scientists based in the UK. STEPHEN L. BRUSATTE ABOVE: 2020 Blavatnik Awards 2021 United Kingdom Laureate in Life Sciences in the UK Chemistry honorees celebrate at the awards ceremony The University of Edinburgh in London, UK. Stephen L. Brusatte, PhD, is a paleontologist whose work describes the anatomy, genealogy, evolution, and extinction of the dinosaurs, the origin of birds from dinosaurs, and the expansion of mammalian species after dinosaur extinction. He has pioneered new techniques “There are many prizes for senior scientists often at a time when they don’t to study evolutionary transitions—periods of history which are similar to some of the sudden changes in climate occurring today. Brusatte is a leading expert on theropods, a group of need them and frequently years after they’ve made their big discoveries. It dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, and Allosaurus, and has described several new species. He is also a powerful science communicator, having penned a New York is a really nice change to see scientists rewarded early in their career when Times bestselling book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, authored numerous articles for they have many great things ahead of them.” Scientific American, and is the paleontology consultant for the upcoming 2022 science fiction adventure film,Jurassic World III. SIR VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN NOBEL LAUREATE ”I’m incredibly honored to receive a Blavatnik Award. I’ve been so fortunate to be able to follow my passion in studying dinosaurs and evolution. Dinosaurs are a gateway into science for so many PRESIDENT EMERITUS, THE ROYAL SOCIETY children, and I treasure the opportunities I have to spread my enthusiasm to the next generation. MEMBER, THE BLAVATNIK AWARDS IN THE Fossils tell us how real animals and ecosystems have responded to real moments of environmental UK SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL change over time—knowledge that has never been more important.”

12 13 Meet the 2021 Blavatnik Awards 2021 Blavatnik Laureates in Israel RAFAL KLAJN Awards for Young 2021 Israel Laureate in Chemistry Weizmann Institute of Science Most man-made materials are intrinsically static, and thus not capable of undergoing change in response to external signals. The ability to react to external stimuli, such as light, heat, and Scientists in touch, is fundamental to the existence and functioning of living organisms. Organic chemist, Rafal Klajn, PhD, has developed dynamic nanomaterials that are engineered to possess some of these “life-like” characteristics. For example, he has created cube-shaped, magnetic nanoparticles that are capable of self-assembling into complex double-helical materials in the presence of a magnetic field. These and other dynamic nanomaterials have potential Israel applications in such diverse fields as water purification, energy storage, and catalysis. “I am honored to be named the Blavatnik Laureate in Chemistry in Israel, an award that Celebrate and support outstanding young recognizes the hard work of many talented individuals in our laboratory, and that would not be faculty-rank scientists in Israel. possible without the continued support of my family, colleagues, and mentors.”

Each year, one nominee in each category is named a Blavatnik Awards Israel Laureate and IDO KAMINER 2021 Israel Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering awarded US$100,000 in unrestricted funds. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Nominations are accepted from all universities The work of Ido Kaminer, PhD, Head of the Robert and Ruth Magid Electron Beam Quantum in Israel and from the Blavatnik Awards Dynamics Laboratory, has influenced fundamental physics research with real world applications by transforming our understanding of the quantum nature of light-matter interactions. New Israel Scientific Advisory Council. Laureates technologies developed in his laboratory open up the possibility of compact and tunable are selected by a jury of world-recognized X-ray apparatuses for applications such as medical imaging and security scanning. He has also uncovered new aspects of the Cherenkov Effect—a burst of light seen when high-speed researchers working in Israel. particles travel through gas, liquid, or solid—that was first discovered in 1934. Thought to be fully understood, Professor Kaminer has discovered hidden quantum features not previously identified by classical physics. This discovery led him to develop novel high energy particle The Blavatnik Awards in Israel are detectors for particle accelerators such as the one at CERN. administered jointly by the New York Academy “I am grateful for the honor and would like to thank my mentors and my students for sharing their of Sciences and the Israel Academy of passion for science with me. My research strives to understand the roots of quantum mechanics, which forms the foundations of our physical reality. I wake up every morning knowing that the most Sciences and Humanities. exciting discoveries are still ahead, and looking forward to sharing this science-journey with colleagues and students for many more years.”

YOSSI YOVEL 2021 Israel Laureate in Life Sciences Tel Aviv University Yossi Yovel, PhD, is working to bridge the gap between two of the most influential fields in “Each of this year’s winners demonstrate their biology—ecology and neuroscience. He has helped to establish the new field of neuroecology, the study of how the brain controls behavior in a rapidly changing natural environment; this outstanding merit, their passion for pushing the combination is crucial to our understanding of biological processes in the natural world. He is frontiers of scientific discovery, and their bright a leading expert on the use of bats in scientific research and studies their use of echolocation to perceive and navigate through the world. He has developed novel miniaturized GPS and future as part of a new generation of pioneering other devices that monitor the behavior of freely moving bats in the wild. This work provides broader insight into group behaviors, integration of sensory information in the brain, and real- Israeli scientists.” time decision making. Yovel also applies his understanding of bat echolocation in a range of NILI COHEN robots. Yovel has made his technology freely available; it is used in field work internationally and has the potential to aid in engineering acoustic control of autonomous vehicles. PRESIDENT THE ISRAEL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES “When the border between facts and fake is fine, science should delineate it.”

14 15 REGIONAL FINALISTS Andrew Goodwin UNITED KINGDOM 2020 Shruti Puri Blavatnik Science Scholars Xi Chen Henry Snaith LAUREATES ISRAEL LAUREATES Marc Schneeberger Pané Matthieu Gagnon Philipp Kukura Emmanuel Levy Yifei Zhang In the fifteen years since its launch, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists program has built an exceptional network Kate Meyer UNITED KINGDOM Konstantinos Nikolopoulos Guy Rothblum of honorees whose members together represent one of the most dynamic, innovative, and cross-disciplinary Rachel Perry FINALISTS Ewa Paluch Igor Ulitsky 2021 Timothy Behrens ISRAEL LAUREATES communities in the world. Eli Visbal Kuang Yu John Briggs UNITED KINGDOM UNITED KINGDOM Ido Kaminer Claudia de Rham FINALISTS LAUREATES Rafal Klajn 2007 POSTDOCTORAL FACULTY FINALISTS Aydogan Ozcan Peng Yin 2017 Robert Hilton Timothy Behrens Timothy Behrens Yossi Yovel FACULTY WINNERS WINNERS Michael Collins Michael Rape Feng Zhang US NATIONAL Andrew Levan Gustav Holzegel Claudia de Rham Léon Bottou Sreekanth Chalasani Wei Min Leonardo Rastelli Yi Zuo LAUREATES Philipp Kukura Igor Larrosa Kirsty Penkman UNITED KINGDOM George Malliaras Ofer Feinerman Melanie Sanford Yi Cui Kathy Niakan LAUREATES Ruslan Medzhitov Eva Pastalkova POSTDOCTORAL William Shih REGIONAL WINNERS Melanie Sanford US NATIONAL Máire O’Neill UNITED KINGDOM Stephen L. Brusatte Milan Stojanovic Alexander Pechen WINNERS Michael Strano Hani Goodarzi Feng Zhang LAUREATES Rachel O’Reilly FINALISTS Sinéad Farrington Leslie B. Vosshall Andrey Feklistov Alice Ting Arash Nikoubashman Janelle Ayres Ian Chapman Daniele Leonori 2010 Michael Hahn Sinisa Urban Nicolás Young US NATIONAL Neal K. Devaraj US NATIONAL Matthew Fuchter FACULTY FINALISTS FACULTY WINNERS Robert Johnston Peng Yin FINALISTS Sergei V. Kalinin LAUREATES Stephen Goldup UNITED KINGDOM Antje Baeumner Song-Hai Shi Elisa Oricchio Martin Zanni REGIONAL FINALISTS Andrea Alù Emily Balskus Eleanor Stride FINALISTS Christoph Bregler Zoltan Haiman Nicholas Stavropoulos Allyson Friedman Matthew Becker US NATIONAL Heather J. Lynch Amaury Triaud John Marioni Geoffrey Coates Michal Lipson REGIONAL WINNERS Xiang Gao Nicholas Dauphas FINALISTS Ana Maria Rey Edze Rients Westra David P. Mills Antonio Giraldez Evgeny Nudler 2013 Clément Hongler Jinzhong Lin William Dichtel Andrea Alù Artem Mishchenko Tarun Kapoor FACULTY WINNERS Jeremy Palmer Yang Liu Matthew Disney Emily Balskus US NATIONAL US NATIONAL Matthew Powner Scott Keeney FACULTY FINALISTS David Blei Panteleimon Rompolas Dennis Perepelitsa Mohamed El-Naggar Alexandra Boltasseva FINALISTS LAUREATES Themis Prodromakis Philip Kim Elza Erkip Kristjan Haule Ziv Shulman Michael Fischbach Edward Boyden Andrea Alù Clifford Brangwynne Edze Westre Colin Nuckolls David Evans Patrick Holland REGIONAL FINALISTS Nathan Gianneschi Clifford Brangwynne Clifford Brangwynne William Dichtel Kathryn Uhrich Neal Weiner Samie Jaffrey Stephen Brohawn 2016 Luis Campos Chiara Daraio Brian Metzger US NATIONAL Frans Pretorius Dilek Colak US NATIONAL Antonio Giraldez Bianxiao Cui William Dichtel LAUREATES 2008 POSTDOCTORAL Nathaniel Craig LAUREATES Julia Greer Mircea Dinc Xiangfeng Duan US NATIONAL Andrea Alù FACULTY WINNERS WINNERS POSTDOCTORAL Knut Drescher Phil Baran Christy Haynes ă Xiangfeng Duan Viviana Gradinaru FINALISTS Mircea Dincă Steve Gubser Yaron Lipman WINNERS Xiaowei Hou David Charbonneau Mark Hersam Jonathan Fortney Mohammad Hafezi Aditya Akella Kay M. Tye Laura Landweber Haitao Liu Jonathan Fisher Jérémie Palacci Michael Rape Bo Huang Neil Garg Christy Haynes Andrea Alù Tom Muir Daniela Schiller Rachel Rosen Sergei V. Kalinin Polina Anikeeva US NATIONAL 2015 US NATIONAL Jure Leskovec Christy Haynes Ive Hermans Luis M. Campos FINALISTS FACULTY FINALISTS POSTDOCTORAL POSTDOCTORAL US NATIONAL FINALISTS Stavros Lomvardas Ryan Hayward Liangbing Hu Cory Dean Aditya Akella Daphne Bavelier FINALISTS FINALISTS LAUREATES Andrea Alù Franziska Michor Bo Huang Michael Jewett Guangbin Dong Shannon Boettcher Geoffrey Coates Nicolas Reyes Bi-Sen Ding Christopher Chang Alexei Borodin Celeste Nelson Jure Leskovec Jeremiah Johnson Neil K. Garg Brandi Cossairt Christine Jacobs-Wagner Agnel Sfeir Emily Hodges Edward Chang Garnet Chan Bradley Pentelute Zachary Lippman Subhash Khot Elena Gracheva Paul Dauenhauer Eric Lai Mariangela Lisanti Syed Jafar Xin Chen Antonis Rokas Ying Shirley Meng Jure Leskovec Viviana Gradinaru Michael Fischbach Kenneth Shepard 2011 Jason MacGurn Yi Cui Pardis Sabeti Brian Metzger Ying Shirley Meng Kristen Grauman Danna Freedman Saeed Tavazoie FACULTY WINNERS Xiankai Sun US NATIONAL Matthew Disney Michael Strano Franziska Michor Brian Metzger Viviana Gradinaru Johannes Gehrke FINALISTS Pieter Dorrestein Dmitri Talapin Joseph Mougous Wei Min Mohammad Hafezi Kristen Grauman POSTDOCTORAL Szabolcs Márka 2014 Phil Baran Casey Dunn Tommaso Treu Celeste Nelson Joseph Mougous Mohammad Hajiaghayi Kaiyu Guan WINNERS US NATIONAL Bianxiao Cui Michael Fischbach Benjamin Tu Bradley Pentelute Seth Murray Liangbing Hu Asegun Henry Andrew Houck FACULTY FINALISTS LAUREATES Yi Cui David Ginger, Jr. Anastasia Volovich Joseph Subotnik Nicholas Navin Sun Hur Liangbing Hu Andrey Pisarev Robert Anderson Adam Cohen Matthew Disney Antonio Giraldez Gleb Yushin Benjamin Tu David Nicewicz Prashant K. Jain Sun Hur Charalampos Kalodimos Marin Soljačić Xiangfeng Duan Jenny Greene Anastasia Volovich Mohammad R. Cigall Kadoch Prashant K. Jain POSTDOCTORAL Jun Korenaga Rachel Wilson Michael Fischbach Julia Greer REGIONAL WINNERS Emily Weiss Seyedsayamdost Subhash Khot Rebekka Klausen FINALISTS Olga Troyanskaya Eric Ford Bo Huang June Huh Gene Yeo Joseph Subotnik Maureen D. Long Houra Merrikh Alexei Aravin Gerard Wysocki US NATIONAL Markus Greiner Sergei V. Kalinin Andrew Ilott Gleb Yushin Benjamin tenOever Julius B. Lucks Wei Min Matthew Evans FINALISTS Rustem Ismagilov Rob Knight Chao Lu Benjamin Tu Houra Merrikh POSTDOCTORAL Hosea M. Nelson Valerie Horsley Phil Baran Jonathan Kagan Nevan Krogan REGIONAL WINNERS Emily Weiss Wei Min WINNERS Graham Neubig Andreas Keller Helen Blackwell Ali Khademhosseini Teri Odom REGIONAL FINALISTS Shruti Naik Nieng Yan Seth Murray Franck Oury Noah Planavsky Shobha Vasudevan Garnet Chan Rob Knight Aydogan Ozcan Alan Healy Lingyan Shi Gene Yeo Aydogan Ozcan Valentino Tosatti Stanley Qi Christopher Chang Nevan Krogan Oliver Rando Chia Wei (Wade) Hsu Lu Wei Gary J. Patti Mikhail G. Shapiro 2009 Howard Chang Hakho Lee Antonina Roll-Mecak Wilhelm Palm REGIONAL WINNERS Ryan A. Shenvi POSTDOCTORAL REGIONAL FINALISTS Sara Skrabalak FACULTY WINNERS Peng Chen Hening Lin Pardis Sabeti Eunyong Park Laura Duvall Emily A. Weiss FINALISTS Samuel Bakhoum Peter Turnbaugh Paul Chirik Yi Cui Yueh-Lin Loo Beth Shapiro Ataman Sendoel Netta Engelhardt Nieng Yan Roberto Bonasio Niankai Fu Kilian Weinberger Carmala Garzione Ruben Gonzalez Harmit Malik Amit Singer Douglas Stanford Juntao Ye Joel Yuen-Zhou Mary Kay Lobo Lucia Gualtieri Ahmet Yildiz Rebecca Oppenheimer Ali Hajimiri Luciano Marraffini Edward Valeev Shaun Olsen 2018 Peter Schauss REGIONAL FINALISTS REGIONAL WINNERS Andrea F. Young Shai Shaham Patrick Hopkins Aydogan Ozcan Anastasia Volovich Ruth Van De Water ISRAEL LAUREATES Priyanka Sharma Derya Akkaynak Antonio Fernández-Ruiz Guihua Yu Ali Javey Abhay Pasupathy Leor Weinberger FACULTY FINALISTS Charles Diesendruck Zhe Zhang Igor Dikiy Ning Jia Wenjun Zhang Jonathan Kagan Michael Rape Feng Zhang Tamas Horvath 2012 Anat Levin Carla Nasca Adrian Price-Whelan Ali Khademhosseini Jared Rutter Lam Hui FACULTY WINNERS Oded Rechavi 2019 Liling Wan Rob Knight Melanie Sanford REGIONAL WINNERS Daniel Sigman Andrei Bernevig ISRAEL LAUREATES Matthew Yankowitz REGIONAL FINALISTS Harmit Malik Michael Strano William Anderegg Denis Zorin Jason Fridley UNITED KINGDOM Moran Bercovici Yaping Zang Zahra Abdollahnejad Sarkis Mazmanian Alice Ting Jian Li Alison Galvani LAUREATES Erez Berg Amelia Escolano Teri Odom Ashvin Vishwanath Tomoyasu Mani Assaf Naor M. Madan Babu Michal Rivlin Xianwen Mao

16 17 Blavatnik Science Scholars Blavatnik Science Scholars In the News Tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic Oded Rechavi pieces together fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls by testing the DNA of In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blavatnik Scholars are rising to the challenge as the animal hide scrolls. society calls on scientists to help tackle this virus, from predicting and detecting disease CNN | June 2, 2020 spread to identifying effective treatments and researching new vaccine technologies.

Ruslan Medzhitov reveals allergies may be caused by immune systems being overwhelmed Pardis Sabeti uses genetic sequencing to track the spread of COVID-19 and develops by the many artificial chemicals common in modern life. models to predict the most sensitive and accurate detection methods. The Washington Post | January 23, 2021 MIT News | April 29, 2020 Claudia de Rham helps break down the science of Christopher Nolan’s latest film, “Tenet.” The Washington Post | October 13, 2020 Los Angeles Times | September 4, 2020 Feng Zhang develops an app to track hotspots and creates William R. Dichtel develops techniques to recycle the plastic foam in mattresses and the first CRISPR-based test for COVID-19. cushions that usually go to landfills. CNBC | April 8, 2020 Anthropocene | May 21, 2020 The New York Times | May 5, 2020

Janelle Ayres discovers that infections in the gut can impact maternal instincts in mice. Nevan Krogan discovers existing drugs that could be used to treat COVID-19. The Irish Times | February 4, 2021 The New York Times | March 22, 2020 San Francisco Chronicle | April 30, 2020 Liangbing Hu creates a transparent wood-based bioplastic that is stronger and lighter than glass. Alison Galvani identifies the most effective public health measures, including testing, New Scientist | January 27, 2021 isolation, and vaccination, for stopping the spread of COVID-19. SciTechDaily | March 26, 2021 Medical Xpress | April 6, 2020 Plastics Today | March 29, 2021 The New York Times | November 5, 2020

Ian Chapman takes the first steps to achieve a nuclear fusion facility in the United Kingdom. Philipp Kukura develops mass photometry technology that is now being used to study interactions between the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the ACE2 receptor. BBC News | October 29, 2020 ABOVE: Blavatnik Regional New Scientist | December 2, 2020 Awards Winner Alison Galvani and Blavatnik Rob Knight and Eugene Yeo build a platform for citizen scientists to collect COVID-19 Netta Engelhardt uncovers new clues as to how gravity works at a subatomic level, National Awards Finalist samples to rapidly understand the virus’ spread and risk. Pardis Sabeti have been UC San Diego News | April 9, 2020 potentially upsetting Stephen Hawking’s theories of black holes. constant resources Symmetry Magazine | March 23, 2021 throughout the COVID-19 ScienceDaily | March 2, 2021 pandemic. Galvani (top) Kirsty Penkman develops methods to more accurately date archaeological samples using participates in a public Yi Cui identifies methods for disinfecting N95 facial masks without reducing their effectiveness. health roundtable with The Stanford Daily | March 31, 2020 amino acid racemization. 2020 US presidential | March 5, 2020 candidate Senator Bernie Chemical & Engineering News | June 24, 2020 Sanders (Photographer: Current World Archaeology | May 27, 2020 Erin Kirkland/Bloomberg Moran Bercovici develops a microfluidic technique to sift particles of different sizes that via Getty Images) and could create a test for COVID-19 that is faster and more accurate than PCR testing. Shirley Meng creates a new sodium-ion conductor for high-performance batteries. Sabeti (bottom) tracks dis- SciTechDaily | February 23, 2021 ease spread us­ing genetic The Jerusalem Post | May 7, 2020 sequencing to identify the most effective detection Julius Lucks tracks viral content in sewage to rapidly identify COVID-19 hotspots. Paul Chirik designs and synthesizes a new plastic that can be more easily recycled than and treatment methods. conventional plastics. Chicago Tribune | November 17, 2020 SciTechDaily | January 26, 2021 Scientific American | December 1, 2020 Plastics Today | February 10, 2021

“If it works, it really does offer a path to much more compact fusion power plants, in a much more cost-competitive way to delivering fusion here on Earth.” IAN CHAPMAN 2020 BLAVATNIK AWARDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM FINALIST ON THE IMPACT OF HIS TEAM’S EXPERIMENTAL FUSION GENERATOR SPEAKING TO BBC NEWS | OCTOBER 29, 2020 18 19 BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION The Blavatnik Family Foundation is an active supporter of world-renowned educational, scientific, cultural and charitable institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Russia and other countries throughout the world. The foundation is headed by Len Blavatnik, a global industrialist and philanthropist and the founder and chairman of Access Industries, a privately held industrial group based in the U.S. with global strategic interests. Visit www.accessindustries.com or www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

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