Gregorio Weber International Prize in Biological Fluorescence

The Gregorio Weber International Prize in Biological Fluorescence (Weber Prize) is awarded for research related to a doctoral (or equivalent) dissertation. All fields of biological fluorescence (experimental, theoretical, or applied) are eligible. The award is conferred approximately every three years and is presented at a selected international scientific meeting. The award is international in scope. Submitted dissertations are evaluated by a scientific panel and three finalists will be identified. A second panel selects the winner from the three finalists. The winner receives a cash award of $2,500 . The remaining two finalists receive honorable mention awards of $1,000 each . Weber Prizes were conferred in 2002 , 2005, 2008, and 2011. The next Weber Prize will be awarded in 2014.

2011 Weber Prize

Thirty-eight applications have been received by December 10, 2010.

The winner and two finalists of the Weber Prize 2011 were announced at the Biological Fluorescence Subgroup meeting on Saturday, March 5th, 2011.

The winner receives a cash award of $2,500 and an invitation to present an acceptance lecture at the 8th International Weber Symposium on Innovative Fluorescence Methodologies in Biochemistry & Medicine, where the award will be presented. The remaining two finalists receive honorable mention awards of $1,000 each, and are also invited to the Weber Symposium.

Winner

• Dr. Bin Wu
  University of Minnesota; Physics.
  Thesis Title: Fluorescence Cumulant Analysis in Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy.

Honorable mention:

• Dr. Buz Barstow
  Cornell University; Physics.
  Thesis Title: Direct Correlation of Protein Structure and Function Using High-pressure X-ray Crystallography.
• Dr. Jonas Ries
  Technische Universitat Dresden; Biophysics.
  Thesis Title: Advanced Fluorescence Correlation Techniques to Study Membrane Dynamics.

Selection Committees 2011

Select three finalists:

• William W. Mantulin, University of California, Irvine, USA, Panel Moderator
• Keith Berland, Emory University, USA
• Philippe Bastiaens, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Germany
• Andrea de Oliveira, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Alberto Diaspro, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy
• John Eid, Pacific Biosciences, USA
• Zygmut Gryczynski, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, USA
• Karsten König, University of Saarland, Germany
• Moshe Levi, University of Colorado Health Science Center, Denver, USA
• Marcia Levitus, Arizona State University, USA
• Pierre Moens, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
• Joachim Müller, University of Minnesota, USA
• Manuel Prieto, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
• Gregory Reinhart, Texas A & M University, USA
• Saveez Saffarian, University of Utah, USA
• Peter So, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• Sergey Tetin, Abbott Laboratories, USA
• Jane Vanderkooi, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Martin vandeVen, University of Hasselt, Belgium
• Xunbin Wei, Fudan University, China

Select the winner:

• Carlos Bustamante, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Panel Moderator
• Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, National Institutes of Health, USA
• Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Harvard University, USA

2008 Weber Prize

Forty-three applications have been received by December 14, 2007.

The winner and two finalists of the Weber Prize 2008 were announced at the Biological Fluorescence Subgroup meeting on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008.

The winner received a cash award of $2,500 and an invitation to present an acceptance lecture at the 7th International Weber Symposium on Innovative Fluorescence Methodologies in Biochemistry & Medicine, where the award was presented. The remaining two finalists received honorable mention awards of $1,000 each, and were also invited to the Weber Symposium.

Winner

• Dr. Long Cai
  Currently at the Californian Institute of Technology, Department of Biology
  Thesis Title: Life at low copy number: a single molecule adventure in live cell gene expression.

Honorable mention:

• Dr. Chirlmin Joo
  Currently at the Seoul National University, School of Biological Sciences, Korea.
  Thesis Title: Single-molecule FRET study on the RecA-mediated DNA repair.
• Dr. Felipe Mora-Bermúdez
  Currently at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
  Thesis Title: Quantitative analysis of the structural dynamics of mitotic chromosomes in live mammalian cells.

Selection Committees 2008

Selected three finalists:

• William W. Mantulin, University of California, Irvine, USA, Panel Moderator
• Patrick R. Callis, Montana State University, USA
• Amitabha Chattopadhyay, Centre Cellular Molecular Biology, India
• Yan Chen, University of Minnesota, USA
• Parkson Lee-Gau Chong, Temple University, USA
• Ignacy Gryczynski, University of North Texas Health Science Center, USA
• Don C. Lamb, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Germany
• Valeria Levi, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Qiaoqiao Ruan, Abbott Laboratories, USA
• Paul W. Wiseman, McGill University, Canada
• Warren R. Zipfel, Cornell University, USA

Selected the winner:

• Robert M. Clegg, University of Illinois, USA, Panel Moderator
• Maite Coppey-Moisan, Institut Jacques Monod, France
• Kenneth A. Jacobson, University of North Carolina, USA

2005 Weber Prize

Winner

• Dr. Ahmet Yildiz
  Currently at University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
  Thesis Title: Fluorescence imaging with one nanometer accuracy: Determination of how processive motors walk

Honorable mention:

• Dr. Harold Kim
  Currently at Stanford University; Stanford, CA
  Thesis Title: Single molecule studies of dynamic biological processes
• Dr. Saveez Saffarian
  Currently at Harvard Medical School/CBR; Boston, MA
  Thesis Title: Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy: Statistical analysis and biological applications

Selection Committees

Selected three finalists:

• Enrico Gratton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, Panel Moderator
• Luis Bagatolli, University of So. Denmark
• Yves Engelborghs, University Leuven, Belgium
• Sergio Ferreira, Fed. University Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Jay Knutson, National Institute of Health, USA
• Kazuhiro Oiwa, KARC, Japan
• Suzanne Scarlata, SUNY at Stony Brook, USA
• Sergey Tetin, Abbot Laboratories, USA

Selected the winner:

• David Jameson, University of Hawaii, USA, Panel Moderator
• William Sawyer, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Antonie Visser, University of Wageningen, The Netherland

2002 Weber Prize

Winner

• Dr. Mark Wallace
  Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
  Thesis Title: A Study of DNA Conformation Dynamics using Single-molecule Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer

Honorable mention:

• Dr. Yan Chen
  University of Minnesota, Physics Department, Minneapolis, MN
  Thesis Title: Analysis and Applications of Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy
• Dr. Yana Reshetnyak
  Institute for Cancer Research, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Department of Molecular Biology and Immunology, Fort Worth, TX
  Thesis Title: Relation Between Fluorescence Parameters of Tryptophan Residues and Structural and Physical Parameters of Microenvironments of Indole Rings in Proteins

Selection Committees

Selected three finalists:

• David Jameson, University of Hawaii, USA, Panel Moderator
• Beniamino Barbieri, ISS Inc., USA
• Robert M Clegg, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
• Joseph R Lakowicz, Univeristy of maryland, Baltimore, USA
• Edmund D Matayoshi, Abbott Laboratories, USA
• Catherine A Royer, INSERM, France
• William Sawyer, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Jerson L Silva, Federal University Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Antonie JWG Visser, University of Wageningen, The Netherland

Selected the winner:

• Enrico Gratton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, Panel Moderator
• Thomas M Jovin, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
• Kazuhiko Kinosita, Keio University, Japan