The envelope please: 2007 Gairdner winners
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* Barbara Sibbald

*   © 2007 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

Five world-class biomedical scientists are this year's Gairdner International recipients. The winners, which were announced on Apr. 18, will each receive $30 000, a certificate and a La Couer statue in Toronto on Oct. 25.

Founded in 1959 by Toronto businessman James Gairdner, the awards recognize and reward the achievements of medical researchers whose work contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life. Since their inception, the Gairdner Foundation has given 289 awards to distinguished scientists from 13 countries; 68 Gairdner winners have become Nobel Laureates ([www.gairdner.org](http://www.gairdner.org)).

The work of these 5 “truly outstanding scientists reflects the importance of basic discoveries that lead to a better understanding of human disease and the development of effective treatment,” said the Gairdner Foundation President Dr. John Dirks. The winners were chosen through a rigorous, 2-part, arms-length process. They are:

• Prof. David Allis, head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology at Rockefeller University, New York, and Kim A. Nasmyth, Whitley chair, Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University. They “are honoured for their brilliant advances in understanding genetic replication and cell division and how it can go wrong, leading to errors in human development and in making us susceptible to cancer,” said Dirks.

• Dr. Dennis J. Slamon, executive vice-chair for research and professor, Department of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, who “almost single-handedly discovered an overactive oncogene in one-third of women with breast cancer, developed the antibody directed at abnormal growth, and designed the necessary clinical trials” that resulted in the development of the targeted therapy trastuzumab (Herceptin), said Dirks.

• Harry F. Noller, director, Center for Molecular Biology of RNA at the University of California, Santa Cruz, California, and Thomas A. Steitz, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, who “contributed to our understanding of the translation of genetic information at the level where proteins are made and where antibiotic action can be targeted,” Dirks said.

The Foundation also sponsors a nation-wide program in October, including lectures at 18 academic centres and culminating in a 2-day “Minds that Matter” symposium at the University of Toronto, at which all 5 winners will speak.