UW geneticist to receive $200,000 award
June 23, 2004
UW professor Mary-Claire King has been selected by an international panel of experts to receive the 2004 Peter Gruber Foundation gold medal in genetics. The award carries with it an unrestricted cash prize of $200,000.
King, a professor in the division of medical genetics and genome sciences, is best known for her 1990 discovery of the BRCA1 breast cancer gene.
King said she was left speechless by the honor.
"The Gruber Award is a fabulous honor," said King. "It reflects the splendid work of the women and men of my lab over the past 30 years."
The Gruber Foundation cited both King's lifelong contributions to the study of genetics and her attention to the practical use of her studies for the betterment of humanity.
Her discovery of the BRCA1 gene demonstrated that breast cancer can be either genetic or non-genetic in nature. This offered a new way of looking at potential treatment for, a variety of diseases ranging from cancer to Alzheimer's disease.
Her discovery gave researchers insight to the possible complexities of diseases and allowed for identification and testing of people with at-risk genetic situations.
King is also known for her contribution to humanitarian efforts in developing genetic techniques to aid in the identification of victims of human-rights abuses in Chile, Bosnia, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
The award will be presented at the American Society of Human Genetics conference this October in Toronto, Canada.
King's lab at the UW performs research on the genetics of breast and ovarian cancer, and has branched off into research involving inherited hearing loss and lupus as well.
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