A tangle of DNA can look like a knotted ball in the cell nucleus. However, the genetic machinery has a complex and regulated structure. Its long repetitive sequences also seemed to have no function. They were called junk DNA, although they were not. The same happened with proteins and low-complexity domains, disordered chains of amino acids that were poorly understood. Nevertheless, that protein noise has turned into music for the 2025 Lasker Awards. These prizes have recognized the work of scientists who were able to see order in chaos.

A tangle of DNA can look like a knotted ball in the cell nucleus. However, the genetic machinery has a complex and regulated structure. Its long repetitive sequences also seemed to have no function. They were called junk DNA, although they were not. The same happened with proteins and low-complexity domains, disordered chains of amino acids that were poorly understood. Nevertheless, that protein noise has turned into music for the 2025 Lasker Awards. These prizes have recognized the work of scientists who were able to see order in chaos.

An innovation that has kickstarted a revolution in the study and practice of health care is getting even more attention. Three scientists who pioneered the discovery and development of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based obesity treatments have been named 2024 Lasker Award winners.

The 2022 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award has been awarded to Richard Hynes, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Erkki Ruoslahti, of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and Timothy Springer, of Harvard Medical School.

The 2022 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award has been awarded to Richard Hynes, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Erkki Ruoslahti, of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and Timothy Springer, of Harvard Medical School “for discoveries concerning the integrins, key mediators of cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in physiology and disease.”