Genome Valley Excellence award for Prof Langer

Hyderabad: Healthcare and Life Sciences event, the 20th edition of BioAsia, organised by the Government of Telangana has announced that this year the Genome Valley Excellence Award for the year 2023 will be conferred upon Prof Robert S Langer. The annual BioAsia conference will be held in the city from February 24 - 26, 2023.

A David H Koch Institute professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA and co-founder of biotech company Moderna, Prof Robert S Langer, will receive the award for his pioneering research that led to the development of the first commercial mRNA vaccine.

KT Rama Rao, Minister for Industries and Commerce, Government of Telangana said, "With the Genome Valley Excellence Award, we want to celebrate people who have created an extraordinary impact within the Life Science community and there is no one who better fits the bill than Prof Langer."

Author of more than 1,500 scientific papers, Prof Langer is also a serial entrepreneur instrumental in starting more than 40 companies and he is a recipient of many awards including the Queen Elizabeth prize for Engineering.

Last year, the Genome Valley Excellence award was presented to Dr Drew Weissman, professor at the Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. In 2021, Padma Bhushan awardees Dr Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech International Ltd received the award for development and commercialisation of vaccines, including Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin.