Karolin Luger has dedicated her career to studying nucleosomes, the repetitive structures in DNA responsible for the packaging and regulation of gene expression. Luger is awarded the 2026 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for her research that has led to the capture of a high resolution image of chromatin, resulting in the development of innovative drug treatments for diseases like cancer. 

As an immigrant from Austria who has participated in international research collaborations throughout her career, Luger notes that cross-cultural perspectives are essential to continued scientific advancement. 

“Diversity is key because everything becomes more clear and three-dimensional when illuminated from all sides,” says Luger. “To borrow a concept from structural biology: You need to see ‘all orientations!’ This can only be achieved with a diverse workforce where people constantly question each other’s assumptions.”

From an early age, Luger showed an interest in science, using a microscope to study the plants and soil in her garden at the microscopic level. She earned a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and a Master of Science in biochemistry from the University of Innsbruck and a Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Basel in Switzerland before immigrating to the United States in 1990. 

“I came [to America] to join this amazing scientific enterprise that is the envy of the entire world,” Luger says. 

Luger focused her postdoctoral studies on the atomic structure of nucleosomes, the discovery of which would help scientists understand fundamental aspects of the human genome. After eight years of hard work, Luger and Tim Richmond at ETH Zürich published a groundbreaking paper that has influenced innumerable studies and changed how researchers understand the interactions of proteins within the nucleosome, how they are modified, and how this controls gene activity. 

Since they first published the paper 28 years ago, it has been cited over 12,000 times and is included in biology textbooks and classes as part of “the central dogma.”

Because of Luger’s discovery, many diseases have since been found to stem from mutations in the nucleosome, resulting in the development of successful drug treatments. Luger continues to study nucleosomes in her laboratory work as a Distinguished Professor and Jennie Smoly Caruthers Endowed Chair of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

“Like many others, my lab has built on this original discovery and we continue to be surprised by the elegant and complicated ways in which DNA access is regulated by nucleosomes,” Luger says. “I am proud to have contributed a bit of beauty and knowledge to the world.”

Awards and Accomplishments

World Laureates Association Prize (2023)
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute 
EMBO Associate Member
National Academy of Science Member
American Academy of Arts & Sciences Member