Press Release

million 'Nobel of the East' awarded to Sir Michael Berridge, Emeritus Fellow at the Babraham Institute

18 July 2005

Professor Sir Michael Berridge, FRS, Emeritus Fellow at the Babraham Institute, has been awarded the prestigious Shaw Prize, for his pioneering work in the field of cell signalling. His discovery of the key role that calcium plays in regulating cellular activity and orchestrating the complexities of cellular communication has given insight into some of the physiological processes behind medical conditions like hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure, cancer and bipolar disorders such as manic depressive illness.

Professor Berridge's discovery of the molecule inositol trisphophate, better known as IP3, and its role in the calcium signalling pathway, was a major breakthrough in understanding how a cell translates chemical stimuli at its external surface into an intracellular chemical language that enables the cell to elicit a physiological response. These breakthroughs have had a profound influence on diverse areas of biomedical research such as cell proliferation, fertilisation, neural activity, memory and learning, metabolism and muscle contraction.

Hailed as the Nobel Prize of the East, following the first award of prizes in 2004, this international accolade consists of three annual prizes in the fields of life science and medicine, astronomy and mathematical sciences, each bearing a monetary award of million US dollars. On 2 September 2005 the three prize winners will visit the University of Hong Kong to speak about their work and be presented with their award. Established in 2002 under the auspices of the now 97 year old Sir Run Run Shaw, a Hong Kong Martial Arts movie magnate and television producer, The Shaw Prize honours individuals who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research, and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.

The Director of the Babraham Institute, Dr Richard Dyer, said, "We are delighted that the Shaw Foundation has honoured Professor Berridge with this valuable and prestigious prize. His elegant experiments elucidating the mechanisms controlling insect salivary secretion and insightful interpretation, pinpointed the pivotal role of second messengers like calcium and IP3 in cellular communication and function. He pioneered a field of research that has pervaded almost every area of cell biology. Today research in this field is bringing new understanding of a wide range of medical disorders and with it the potential to develop ever more sophisticated therapeutic strategies for the prevention and management of disease."

Professor Berridge's ground-breaking research and leadership in the field have earned him a plethora of prestigious international awards, including: the Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics; the Gairdner Foundation International Award for outstanding achievement in biomedical research; the King Faisal International Prize in Science; The Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine; the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award; and the Louis Jeantet Prize in Medicine.