2016 Canada Gairdner Awards Honour CRISPR-Cas Researchers and HIV/AIDS Leaders

- The Gairdner Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 Canada Gairdner Awards, recognizing some of the most significant medical discoveries from around the world. This year the awards center on two defining themes including the revolutionary Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technique for gene editing and for work in the HIV/AIDS field within Canada and internationally. Among the world's most esteemed medical research prizes, the awards distinguish Canada as a leader in science and provide a $100,000 (CDN) prize to each scientist which they can spend as they wish. The Canada Gairdner Awards promote a stronger culture of research and innovation across the country, inspiring the next generation of researchers with the programs that bring current and past laureates to Canada to speak at 22 universities. The selections for the Canada Gairdner International Awards, recognizing five individuals from various fields for seminal discoveries or contributions to biomedical science, are below. This year, the Gairdner Foundation has given its Canada Gairdner International Awards to leaders from the CRISPR-Cas field breaking it into two awards for: the adaptive immunity discovery and the development of CRISPR-Cas as a usable genome editing tool. There are a number of outstanding scientists who have made a significant impact on the CRISPR field and the Gairdner Foundation's adjudication committees have chosen to recognize five of those leaders by dedicating all five of our 2016 Canada Gairdner International Awards to the following scientists. The first two Canada Gairdner International Awards are given to two researchers who are being awarded "for establishing and characterizing CRISPR-Cas bacterial immune defense system" The next three Canada Gairdner International Awards are being awarded "for development of CRISPR-CAS as a genome editing tool for eukaryotic cells." The three laureates are as follows: The John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award recognizes an individual who is responsible for a scientific advancement that has made a significant impact on health in the developing world. The Gairdner Foundation Board of Directors along with CIHR have changed the award name (effective March 23, 2016) to the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award to recognize the contributions of Dr. John Dirks, President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Foundation. Dr. Dirks is responsible for the development of the award along with building an international adjudication committee and building its brand as a world-renowned global health award. The Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, given to a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science throughout his/her career, is awarded to: The Canada Gairdner Awards will be presented at a dinner in Toronto on October 27th, 2016 as part of the Gairdner National and Student Outreach Programs, a two week lecture series given by Canada Gairdner Award winners at more than 22 universities from St John's to Vancouver. The National Program reaches students across the country, making the superstars of science accessible and inspiring the next generation of researchers. "The Canada Gairdner Awards distinguish Canada as a leader in biomedical research, raising the profile of science both nationally and on the world stage," said Dr. John Dirks, President and Scientific Director, Gairdner Foundation. "This year's International winners are an exceptional example of the future of gene editing which is taking the research world by storm." Dr. Dirks is retiring from the Gairdner Foundation on May 4, 2016 when Dr. Janet Rossant (Chief of Research Emeritus, The Hospital for Sick Children; Senior Scientist, University of Toronto) will begin as President and Scientific Director. Dr. Dirks has been President and Scientific Director since 1993 and during his time the profile of the Foundation has grown extensively. He internationalized the adjudication committees and expanded the Gairdner National and Student Outreach Programs to include the 22 universities across Canada. In 2008, Dr. Dirks successfully spearheaded a request to the Government of Canada to support and rename the Gairdner Awards through a grant of $20 million which enhanced the value of the awards from $30,000 to $100,000 each. The Gairdner Foundation: Making Science Matter  The Canada Gairdner Awards were created in 1959 to recognize and reward the achievements of medical researchers whose work contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life. They are Canada's only globally known and respected international science awards, and Gairdner is the only national organization that consistently brings the world's best biomedical researchers to Canada to share their ideas and work with scientists across the country. In so doing, it enlarges networks and enhances Canada's international reputation, while providing a realistic and unbiased benchmark for Canada's leading scientists. All winners are chosen by an international adjudication committee and all choices are deemed final. Sommer Wedlock, Director of Communications, Gairdner Foundation, [email protected] , Main: +1-416-596-9996 ext.202, Cell: +1-647-293-6785