A UNIVERSITY of Dundee scientist has been awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in his field.
Professor Dario Alessi, from the university’s Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC-PPU) in the School of Life Sciences, won the 2023 Jeantet-Colleen Prize for Translational Medicine.
The Louis-Jeantet Foundation’s award has come with a cash prize of £440,000 of which £396,000 is intended for continuing the winner’s research while the remainder is allocated for personal use.
Professor Alessi has discovered components which regulate pathways linked to human disease, in particular neurodegenerative diseases.
The scientist said: “I was surprised but greatly honoured to be awarded one of this year’s Louis-Jeantet prizes together with Brenda Schulman and Ivan Đikić whose research I admire enormously.
"I would like to thank the University of Dundee, UK Medical Research Council and Michael J Fox Foundation for their long-term support which has made the research possible.”
His efforts have led to fundamental breakthroughs in unravelling the role of the LRRK2 kinase enzyme in Parkinson’s disease and have helped to develop possible therapies for slowing the disease in patients, known as LRRK2 inhibitors, which are currently being tested in late phase clinical trials.
He added: “I dedicate this award to my collaborators and the past and present talented researchers who have worked in my lab. Our research has been greatly inspired by the many people impacted with Parkinson’s who I have had the privilege to meet, which has kept us going over periods when progress was slow.
"Although our work has helped illuminate some of the biology surrounding LRRK2 and Parkinson’s, there is still lots to do to develop treatments that slow disease progression. I intend to use the prize funds to help progress new therapies.”
The research has contributed to understanding pathways involved in diabetes, cancer and blood pressure in addition to his work on neurodegenerative diseases.
The award will be presented at a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday, April 26.
Dr Megan Dowie, head of the molecular and cellular medicine board at the Medical Research Council, said: “Professor Alessi has made many invaluable contributions towards our understanding of the cellular pathways related to Parkinson’s disease over his esteemed career, and this prestigious award is most deserved.”
She added: “The work he leads at the MRC-PPU is a great example of strong discovery research, aided by an excellent collaborative environment with fellow academics and industry and leading to the development of potential new therapies for this devastating disease.”
Professor Alessi was born in Strasbourg in 1967 and earned his bachelor and PhD degrees from the University of Birmingham before carrying out postdoctoral work at the MRC-PPU at Dundee.
He has been a group leader in the MRC-PPU since 1997 and was appointed its director in 2012.
The scientist was also elected as a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 2005 as well as fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2002), the Royal Society (2008) and of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2012).
Throughout his career he has been honoured with awards, including the EMBO Gold Medal (2005) and the Francis Crick Prize of the Royal Society (2006).
The Louis-Jeantet Prizes have distinguished leading researchers year after year who have been active in the member states of the Council of Europe.
The awards awere established in 1986 and have thus far been awarded to 103 researchers, 15 of whom have subsequently won Nobel Prizes.
