Tom Muir, Paul Nurse honored at Science and the City Gala

The New York Academy of Sciences has honored Rockefeller University professor Tom W. Muir with a Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, and also presented Rockefeller president Paul Nurse with a Science and the City Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in New York City. The awards were given at the fifth annual Science and City Gala held last night at a Manhattan restaurant.

Muir, who is Richard E. Salomon Family Professor and head of Rockefeller’s Selma and Lawrence Ruben Laboratory of Synthetic Protein Chemistry, is one of three faculty winners of this year’s Blavatnik awards, chosen from among nine faculty finalists. He studies the physicochemical basis of protein function in complex systems of biomedical interest. His lab has combined the tools of organic chemistry, biochemistry and cell biology to develop new technologies that provide insight into how proteins work, research with wide potential for elucidating protein function in the postgenomic era.

Established in 2007 with funds from the Blavatnik Charitable Foundation, The Blavatnik Awards recognize the achievements of young scientists and engineers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut who have contributed significantly to interdisciplinary research in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering. The award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $25,000 for faculty winners. Three other Rockefeller University researchers were finalists in this year’s postdoctoral competition and Rockefeller’s Leslie B. Vosshall, the Chemers Family Associate Professor, was a winner in the 2007 competition.

Nurse is head of the Laboratory of Yeast Genetics and Cell Biology and has been president of The Rockefeller University since 2003. The Science and the City Award honors scientists for achievements that contribute to the continuation of New York City as a center of scientific excellence. Nurse shares the award with Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), founded in 1817, is one of the country’s oldest scientific institutions. With about 25,000 members in 140 countries, NYAS is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to advancing science, technology and society worldwide in an effort to positively impact major global challenges with science-based solutions and increase the number of scientifically informed individuals in society at large. This year’s gala raised more than $1 million for the organization.