About the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Biological Sciences
The Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Biological Sciences honors Texas researchers at academic institutions in biological and life sciences with a $25,000 honorarium, profile video and an invitation to present their research at the TAMEST Annual Conference.
Thanks to a $1.15 million gift from the O’Donnell Foundation in 2022, the O’Donnell Awards were expanded to include an additional science award so that awards could be given each year in both Biological and Physical Sciences categories. Previously, the science award alternated between biological sciences and physical sciences annually.
Most Recent Biological Sciences Recipient
Imagine being able to cure diseases, such as cancer, by fixing mistakes in your own DNA. Dr. Finkelstein and his team are aiming to do exactly that by studying how our cells maintain their genetic information, and how we can edit it safely.
The human genome is made up of billions of letters of DNA. Every individual cell, as it divides, must make an exact copy of its DNA and package it into the nucleus. If something goes wrong, much like a hard drive in a computer, it can corrupt the whole system, and the cell can turn cancerous. While some genome damage is natural, and special caretaker proteins can fix them on their own, cancers and other diseases arise after the accumulation of too much DNA damage. Dr. Finkelstein is discovering how these caretaker proteins repair the genome, and how their dysregulation ultimately results in cancer. These studies can lead to future therapies that bolster our natural defenses against DNA damage.
Dr. Finkelstein and his team are also developing safe and effective ways to remove disease-causing errors by editing the genome. To do so, his laboratory has developed new approaches to study gene editing CRISPR enzymes and has discovered new types of gene editor proteins. These efforts have provided fundamental insights into how proteins interact with nucleic acids to shape our genomes. Ultimately, Dr. Finkelstein hopes to create safer and more effective gene therapies.
Past Biological Sciences Recipients
Vincent Tagliabracci, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2024
For his potentially life-saving research in understanding how enzymes work.
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James J. Collins III, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2023
For widening the understanding of schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic worms that infect hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, including children.
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Benjamin Tu, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2021
For his pioneering research on cellular roles of small molecule metabolites that may have relevance for cancer treatments and other diseases.
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Julie Pfeiffer, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2019
For re-defining how we think about life-threatening viral infections. She has discovered new ways that bacteria in the body can affect whether or not we get sick from viruses.
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Watch Dr. Pfeiffer’s Award Acceptance >
Daniel I. Bolnick, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin | 2017
For his understanding on how some fish are resistant to parasites. With this understanding we can achieve a better understanding of our own immune systems, which could lead to better treatments for everything from allergies to Crohn’s Disease.
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Watch Dr. Bolnick’s Award Acceptance >
Yuh Min Chook, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2015
For work that explained the mechanism of ALS-disease mutations, permitted the design and revealed mechanisms of new anti-cancer drugs.
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Watch Dr. Chook’s Award Acceptance >
Youxing Jiang, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2013
For the elucidation of the atomic structures of membrane-bound ion channels.
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Watch Dr. Jiang’s Award Acceptance >
Kim Orth, Ph.D. (NAS), UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2011
For the discovery of new intracellular signaling mechanisms and post-translational protein modifications usurped by bacterial pathogens and used during infection of mammalian cells.
National Academy of Sciences: 2020
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Rama Ranganathan, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2009
For developing an approach for understanding the evolutionary design of protein structure and function.
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Zhijian “James” Chen, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS), UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2007
For his discovery of the novel role of ubiquitin in regulating protein kinases and other biological activities, and the discovery of a new role of mitochondria in immune responses.
National Academy of Sciences: 2014
National Academy of Medicine: 2022
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Michael Rosen, Ph.D. (NAS), UT Southwestern Medical Center | 2006
For researching how cells maintain their shape as they move through the body, which could have implications in development of drugs that alter the behavior of abnormal cells.
National Academy of Sciences: 2020
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