About the Award
The NAS Award in Molecular Biology is supported by Pfizer Inc. and recognizes a recent notable discovery by a young scientist (no older than 50) who is a citizen of the United States. The award is presented with a medal and a $25,000 prize.
Eric Skaar, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will receive the 2025 NAS Award in Molecular Biology.
Skaar has made groundbreaking contributions to advance our understanding of cellular metal homeostasis, uncovering fundamental molecular mechanisms used by infectious agents to acquire metals from their hosts.
Skaar’s work focuses on identifying novel targets for therapeutic intervention against bacterial pathogens with a particular emphasis on systems involved in metal trafficking and metabolism.
A pioneer in nutritional immunology, Skaar’s discoveries are critical to our understanding of metallobiology and the development of new therapeutic strategies to limit bacterial infections. His research revealed that vertebrates sequester not only iron, but other metals as well, as a strategy to combat pathogens. This discovery resulted in the identification of the key protein, calprotectin, that sequesters zinc and manganese to limit bacterial growth within infected tissues.
Skaar will be honored in a ceremony on Sunday, April 27 during the National Academy of Sciences’ 162nd annual meeting. The ceremony will be livestreamed.
Award History
The NAS Award in Molecular Biology was first awarded in 1962 to Marshall Nirenberg for his studies of the molecular mechanisms for the biosynthesis of protein. In 1959 Nirenberg began to study the steps that relate DNA, RNA, and protein. These investigations led to the demonstration with H. Matthaei that messenger RNA is required for protein synthesis and that synthetic messenger RNA preparations can be used to decipher various aspects of the genetic code (from Nirenberg’s Nobel biography). Nirenberg went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology for Medicine with Robert W. Holley and H. Gobind Khorana in 1968 for “for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.”
Previous recipients of the NAS Award in Molecular Biology continue to achieve outstanding advancements in their fields. Ten recipients have been honored with a National Medal of Science, 20 recipients have received a Lasker Award, and 15 recipients have received a Nobel Prize in Medicine (Nirenberg 1968; Holley 1968; Temin 1975; Baltimore 1975; Nathans 1978; Blobel 1999; Sharp 1993; Horvitz 2002; Blackburn 2009; Szostak 2009; Südhof 2013; Fire 2006; Mello 2006), and in Chemistry (Gilbert 1980; Cech 1989).
Most Recent Recipient
