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Home > News > Ruth Lehmann wins the 2021 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science

Ruth Lehmann wins the 2021 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science

Media Coverage | December 9, 2020

AcademiaNet

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Ruth Lehmann, wearing a gray jacket and red scarf, against a neutral gray backdrop.
Photo courtesy of NYU Photography Staff.

Developmental cell biologist, Professor Ruth Lehmann, has won the 2021 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. She receives the prize for revealing the formation of germ cells—the cells that become egg and sperm cells.

When an embryo is formed, germ cells are set aside before ultimately migrating to the gonads, i.e. the testes or the ovaries, of the organism and becoming new reproductive cells. This happens over and over with each generation. The goal of Professor Lehmann’s research is to completely dissect and understand the life cycle of germ cells in Drosophila fruit flies. Her research has uncovered critical information about the role of RNA and mitochondria in guiding and protecting the cells that ensures that reproductive abilities can be maintained and passed on.

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2021 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science

Ruth Lehmann

Born in Germany
Ruth Lehmann receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for unraveling the molecular basis by which germ cells, which give rise to sperm and egg cells, are formed.
Ruth Lehmann, wearing a gray jacket and red scarf, against a neutral gray backdrop.
2018 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Feng Zhang

Born in China
Feng Zhang receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for using light to manipulate the activities of brain cells in living animals and for enabling rapid alterations to the genomes of living organisms.
Portrait of Feng Zhang
2020 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Martin Jonikas

Born in France
Martin Jonikas receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for molecular studies on Chlamydomonas, a model photosynthetic organism, with long-term implications for improving food-crop yield and combating climate change.
Portrait of Martin Jonikas

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