M. Madan Babu, a Group Leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, has been awarded the EMBO Gold Medal for his “fundamental contributions to the field of computational molecular biology”. Madan shares the prize with Paola Picotti at ETH Zurich.
The EMBO Gold Medal is awarded annually to scientists under 40 for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Young independent group leaders play an important role in creating a strong research environment and EMBO aims to support researchers at all stages of their careers.
Madan’s group aims to gain a detailed understanding of how regulation is achieved in cellular systems at three levels of organisation: molecules, processes, and genomes. Their ultimate goal is to decipher the molecular basis of human diseases caused by regulatory dysfunction. Recent work from the group has helped explain why people respond differently to certain drugs, which has direct implications for personalised and precision medicine. The EMBO Gold Medal was specifically awarded to Madan in recognition of his “discoveries in the areas of GPCR signalling and intrinsically disordered proteins” and for his group’s development of data science-based approaches and high-throughput experimental methods to study disordered proteins.
Jan Löwe, LMB Director, commented, “I am most delighted that EMBO decided to award its highest accolade to Madan, to someone so deeply interested in computational biology and so adept at teasing out important answers with its application. Madan joins the growing list of winners of the EMBO Gold Medal who have successfully developed their careers at the LMB.”
Madan has previously received numerous prizes, including being named the 2018 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK Life Sciences Laureate and receiving the ISCB Innovator Award in 2018, Royal Society Francis Crick Medal in 2015, the Lister Prize in 2014, the Biochemical Society Colworth Medal in 2013, and the Genetics Society Balfour Award in 2012.
Madan will receive the EMBO Gold Medal at the EMBO Members’ meeting in Heidelberg in October.
Previous LMB Gold medal winners include Melina Schuh (2018), Sarah Teichmann (2015), Jason Chin (2010), and Jan Löwe (2007).
Further references
Madan’s group page
EMBO press release
Interview with Madan
Previous EMBO Gold Medal winners at the LMB