Emr wins the World Laureate Association Prize

Scott Emr, the Samuel C. and Nancy M. Fleming Professor Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, has won the World Laureate Association Prize, one of the world's highest-funded scientific awards.

Emr, who is in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, shares the prize with collaborator Wesley Sundquist, professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah. They are recognized for their breakthrough discoveries in the cellular mechanisms of receptor membrane protein transport and degradation, which are closely related to virus budding, infection processes and HIV drug interventions.

"Scott Emr's groundbreaking leadership in uncovering the ESCRT pathway underscores the fact that fundamental research is essential for progress in health care," said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

"Thanks to his work, our greater understanding of healthy cell function can contribute to treatment of some of the most serious and wide-spread diseases we face today," Loewen said. "It's my honor to congratulate Dr. Emr and his colleague Dr. Sundquist on this award, knowing that they continue to reach toward further discovery."

Emr studies the regulation of cell signaling pathways. His discovery, with Sundquist, of the ESCRT pathway(Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport) was awarded the 2024 Horwitz Prizeand the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicinein 2021.

Essential in diverse processes central to health and disease, ESCRT (pronounced "escort") complexes deform the cell membrane and bend parts of it away from the cytoplasm, the space that houses all material inside a cell. This unique process plays an essential role in keeping cells healthy by packaging and sorting molecules, removing waste, and regulating important cellular functions such as cell division, neuron remodeling and immune responses.

Defects in ESCRT function can lead to uncontrolled cell growth and tumor formation, contributing to cancer, neurodegeneration and Parkinson's disease. In addition, many viruses, including HIV, hijack ESCRT machinery to exit an infected host cell.

"Based on our findings and those of others in the field, drugs are now being developed that may ultimately lead to new treatments for certain types of cancer and neurodegenerative disease," Emr said.

Established in Shanghai in 2021, the WLA Prize aims to recognize and support outstanding researchers and technologists globally for significant contributions to science. The prize features two categories, Life Science/Medicine and Computer Science/Mathematics, each with a prize of 10 million yuan (around $1.41 million), making it one of the highest-funded scientific awards in the world.

Kate Blackwood is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.