Prof Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Prof Sir David Klenerman have received the 2024 Canada Gairdner Award for their transformative contributions to research impacting human health.
Through the prestigious annual Canada Gairdner Awards, the Gairdner Foundation celebrates the world’s most creative and accomplished researchers whose work is improving the health and wellbeing of people around the world.
Balasubramanian and Klenerman have been recognised for developing the underlying methods that led to Solexa-Illumina Next Generation DNA Sequencing, a technology that has enhanced our basic understanding of life, converting biosciences into ‘big science’ by enabling fast, accurate, low-cost and large-scale genome sequencing – the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism.
Next Generation DNA Sequencing has had – and continues to have – a transformative impact in the fields of genomics, biology and medicine. It has allowed a million-fold improvement in speed and cost when compared to the first sequencing of the human genome. In 2000, sequencing of one human genome took over 10 years and cost more than a billion dollars; today, the entire genome of multiple humans can be sequenced in a single day at a cost of less than $1,000.
It has revolutionised the diagnosis of rare genetic diseases by significantly reducing the time to diagnosis, facilitating rapid, targeted interventions. NGS played a pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding in the tracking of the virus’s spread and the evolution of variants.
The technology underpins major genome projects such as the 100,000 Genomes Project, International Cancer Genome Project and Genome Asia 100k and has transformed the understanding of cancer by enabling targeted treatments through the identification of key genetic mutations.
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry said “Canada is a world leader in science and innovation, and it is crucial to recognize the hard work done by its scientific community to make the world around us better. The 2024 Canada Gairdner Awards recipients’ contributions to science and research are truly exemplary, standing out on the global stage. The work of these laureates will most definitely improve the health of people in Canada and around the world. Congratulations to this year’s recipients!”