The Shaw Prize Foundation awarded the 2016 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine to pioneering neuroscientist Dr. Huda Zoghbi, director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Dr. Ralph D. Feigin professor at Baylor College of Medicine.
The award was presented jointly to Zoghbi and Dr. Adrian P. Bird, Buchanan professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, during a special ceremony on September 27 in Hong Kong for their groundbreaking discovery of the genes and the encoded proteins associated with Rett syndrome.
Considered the “Nobel Prize of the East,” the Shaw Prize is an international award established in 2002 designed to foster scientific research. Awarded annually, the prize honors individuals who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or applications and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.
“I am humbled to be honored by the esteemed Shaw Prize Foundation,” Zoghbi said. “We will use this support to continue the research into how Rett syndrome affects the brain with the hope that our research will impact future treatment options.”
Rett syndrome is the leading cause of intellectual disabilities in girls, affecting one in 10,000, and is particularly devastating as girls affected by the syndrome develop normally for the first few months of life before a catastrophic decline in neurological capabilities.
Zoghbi’s discovery that mutations in the MEPC2 gene cause this devastating neurological disorder paved the way for the development of a diagnostic genetic test for Rett syndrome.
The $1.2 million Shaw prize will be shared by Bird and Zoghbi to advance Rett syndrome research.