Archive for the ‘Interviews with Scientific Leaders’ Category

The NIH-funded adjuvant improves the efficacy of India’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Posted in Allergy and Infectious Diseases, CEOs of Biotech Companies, coronavirus, COVID-19, Drug Development Process, Immunology, Infectious Disease Immunodiagnostics, Mechanisms of infection by SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants , SARS-CoV-2 Viral Variants, Viral diseases, Virology, tagged Antibodies, COVID Vaccine, COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Treatment, infection, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, vaccine adjuvant platorm technology, vaccine development on July 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The NIH-funded adjuvant improves the efficacy of India’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Curator and Reporter: Dr. Premalata Pati, Ph.D., Postdoc

Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Part of National Institute of Health (NIH) said,

Ending a global pandemic demands a global response. I am thrilled that a novel vaccine adjuvant developed in the United States with NIAID support is now included in an effective COVID-19 vaccine that is available to individuals in India.”

**Image Source:**https://www.bharatbiotech.com/

Adjuvants are components that are created as part of a vaccine to improve immune responses and increase the efficiency of the vaccine. COVAXIN was developed and is manufactured in India, which is currently experiencing a terrible health catastrophe as a result of COVID-19. An adjuvant designed with NIH funding has contributed to the success of the extremely effective COVAXIN-COVID-19 vaccine, which has been administered to about 25 million individuals in India and internationally.

Alhydroxiquim-II is the adjuvant utilized in COVAXIN, was discovered and validated in the laboratory by the biotech company ViroVax LLC of Lawrence, Kansas, with funding provided solely by the NIAID Adjuvant Development Program. The adjuvant is formed of a small molecule that is uniquely bonded to Alhydrogel, often known as alum and the most regularly used adjuvant in human vaccines. Alhydroxiquim-II enters lymph nodes, where it detaches from alum and triggers two cellular receptors. TLR7 and TLR8 receptors are essential in the immunological response to viruses. Alhydroxiquim-II is the first adjuvant to activate TLR7 and TLR8 in an approved vaccine against an infectious disease. Additionally, the alum in Alhydroxiquim-II activates the immune system to look for an infiltrating pathogen.

Although molecules that activate TLR receptors strongly stimulate the immune system, the adverse effects of Alhydroxiquim-II are modest. This is due to the fact that after COVAXIN is injected, the adjuvant travels directly to adjacent lymph nodes, which contain white blood cells that are crucial in recognizing pathogens and combating infections. As a result, just a minimal amount of Alhydroxiquim-II is required in each vaccination dosage, and the adjuvant does not circulate throughout the body, avoiding more widespread inflammation and unwanted side effects.

This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round gold particles) emerging from the surface of a cell cultured in the lab. SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19. Image Source: **NIAID**

COVAXIN is made up of a crippled version of SARS-CoV-2 that cannot replicate but yet encourages the immune system to produce antibodies against the virus. The NIH stated that COVAXIN is “safe and well tolerated,” citing the results of a phase 2 clinical investigation. COVAXIN safety results from a Phase 3 trial with 25,800 participants in India will be released later this year. Meanwhile, unpublished interim data from the Phase 3 trial show that the vaccine is 78% effective against symptomatic sickness, 100% effective against severe COVID-19, including hospitalization, and 70% effective against asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Two tests of blood serum from persons who had received COVAXIN suggest that the vaccine creates antibodies that efficiently neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.617 (Delta) variants (1) and (2), which were originally identified in the United Kingdom and India, respectively.

Since 2009, the NIAID Adjuvant Program has supported the research of ViroVax’s founder and CEO, Sunil David, M.D., Ph.D. His research has focused on the emergence of new compounds that activate innate immune receptors and their application as vaccination adjuvants.

Dr. David’s engagement with Bharat Biotech International Ltd. of Hyderabad, which manufactures COVAXIN, began during a 2019 meeting in India organized by the NIAID Office of Global Research under the auspices of the NIAID’s Indo-US Vaccine Action Program. Five NIAID-funded adjuvant investigators, including Dr. David, two representatives of the NIAID Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation, and the NIAID India representative, visited 4 top biotechnology companies to learn about their work and discuss future collaborations. The delegation also attended a consultation in New Delhi, which was co-organized by the NIAID and India’s Department of Biotechnology and hosted by the National Institute of Immunology.

Among the scientific collaborations spawned by these endeavors was a licensing deal between Bharat Biotech and Dr. David to use Alhydroxiquim-II in their candidate vaccines. During the COVID-19 outbreak, this license was expanded to cover COVAXIN, which has Emergency Use Authorization in India and more than a dozen additional countries. COVAXIN was developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology. The company conducted thorough safety research on Alhydroxiquim-II and undertook the arduous process of scaling up production of the adjuvant in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice standards. Bharat Biotech aims to generate 700 million doses of COVAXIN by the end of 2021.

NIAID conducts and supports research at the National Institutes of Health, across the United States, and across the world to better understand the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases and to develop better methods of preventing, detecting, and treating these illnesses. The NIAID website contains news releases, info sheets, and other NIAID-related materials.

Main Source:

https://www.miragenews.com/adjuvant-developed-with-nih-funding-enhances-587090/

References

Other Related Articles published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:

Comparing COVID-19 Vaccine Schedule Combinations, or “Com-COV” – First-of-its-Kind Study will explore the Impact of using eight different Combinations of Doses and Dosing Intervals for Different COVID-19 Vaccines

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/02/08/comparing-covid-19-vaccine-schedule-combinations-or-com-cov-first-of-its-kind-study-will-explore-the-impact-of-using-eight-different-combinations-of-doses-and-dosing-intervals-for-diffe/

Thriving Vaccines and Research: Weizmann Institute Coronavirus Research Development

Reporter:Amandeep Kaur, B.Sc., M.Sc.

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/05/04/thriving-vaccines-and-research-weizmann-coronavirus-research-development/

National Public Radio interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci on his optimism on a COVID-19 vaccine by early 2021

Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, PhD

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2020/07/19/national-public-radio-interview-with-dr-anthony-fauci-on-his-optimism-on-a-covid-19-vaccine-by-early-2021/

Cryo-EM disclosed how the D614G mutation changes SARS-CoV-2 spike protein structure

Reporter: Dr. Premalata Pati, Ph.D., Postdoc

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/04/10/cryo-em-disclosed-how-the-d614g-mutation-changes-sars-cov-2-spike-protein-structure/

Updates on the Oxford, AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, PhD

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2020/06/16/updates-on-the-oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine/

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LIVE – 50th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for work on messenger RNA, modification of Nucleic Acids applied in the development of COVID-19 Vaccines

Posted in Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award on January 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

LIVE – 50th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for work on messenger RNA, modification of Nucleic Acids applied in the development of COVID-19 Vaccines

Reporter & Real Time Coverage on 2/8/2021

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN, Founder, LPBI Group: 1.0 & 2.0

50th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for work on messenger RNA, modification of Nucleic Acids applied in the development of COVID-19 Vaccines

Rosenstiel Award given to pioneering scientists behind COVID-19 vaccines
This year’s prize for distinguished work in basic medical research was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for work on messenger RNA.

Courtesy Karikó/University of Pennsylvania Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman

By Lawrence GoodmanJan. 21, 2021
Brandeis University and the Rosenstiel Foundation are pleased to award the 50th annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman ’81, MA ’81, P’15, for their groundbreaking work in the modification of nucleic acids to develop RNA therapeutics and vaccines.
Karikó, senior vice president at BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, and Weissman, a professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, pioneered much of the science underlying two of the COVID-19 vaccines now being given to tens of millions of people across the globe.

For those of you who would like to share the recording of this event with others, or those of you who were not able to attend the web event, the recording of the program can be found here:
https://ensemble.brandeis.edu/Watch/Aj7x3G8L

SOURCE

From: Ron Liebowitz <president@brandeis.edu>

Date: Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 5:48 PM

The Rosenstiel Award

By engineering a modified version of the messenger RNA (mRNA) inside human cells and then developing a system to deliver it to its target, the two researchers laid the groundwork for the vaccines brought to fruition by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
“This award celebrates how basic research in molecular biology can be the foundation for applications that can affect the lives of us all,” said James Haber, the Abraham and Etta Goodman Professor of Biology and director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center.
“Through their painstaking research into mRNA – and persistence despite setbacks – Weissman and Karikó laid the groundwork for vaccines that will save countless lives.”
Peter Gruber Endowed Chair in Neuroscience and 2017 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Michael Rosbash said:
“Among the few positive consequences of the current pandemic are the successful efforts made worldwide to generate effective vaccines. The most creative of these rely on the new messenger RNA technology pioneered by Kariko and Weissman. This is a great story where individual initiative in basic science has ended up having a remarkable real-world impact.”
The Rosenstiel Award has had a distinguished record of identifying and honoring scientists who subsequently have been honored with the Lasker and Nobel Prizes. Thirty-six of 93 Rosenstiel Award winners have subsequently been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology or in Chemistry.
A full list of awardees can be found on the award’s website.
The award will be presented on February 8 at 12 p.m. via webinar.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Derrick Rossi, co-founder of Moderna, will present congratulatory remarks.
Karikó and Weissman began working together over 20 years ago when both were at U Penn.
At the time, many scientists didn’t believe mRNA, which transport instructions from DNA to the ribosomes for the production of proteins, could be the basis for a vaccine. In experiments, injecting mRNA into mice caused deadly inflammation.
But Karikó and Weissman pressed on, discovering a method of altering mRNA that enabled it to enter cells without triggering the body’s immune system. They did this by tweaking one of the four nucleosides that are the building blocks of mRNA.
Several years later, Karikó and Weissman devised a method of packaging mRNA inside a lipid nanoparticle — a small bubble of oil — so that the molecule didn’t fall apart as it traveled through the body.
“We basically tested every possible delivery system and found this was the best,” Weissman recently told BrandeisNOW.
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines work by spurring human cells to produce the spike-shaped protein found on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the illness, and triggering the immune system to produce protective antibodies.
In general, mRNA vaccines have the advantage of being cheaper to produce than traditional vaccines for chickenpox, polio, flu or rabies. It’s also hoped they can be adapted to treat other infectious diseases such as genital herpes (which is caused by the herpes simplex virus), influenza, Zika and HIV.
“The COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough is a great example of how basic science innovations, such as the RNA technology pioneered by Weissman and Karikó, can have an enormous impact on advances in the biomedical sciences,” said biochemist Carol Fierke, the university’s new provost and executive vice president.
In addition to her post at BioNTech, Karikó is an adjunct associate professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Weissman is also director of vaccine research at the Perelman school’s division of infectious diseases.

LAST PAST 5 Years Recipients

Past Winners

49th (2019)

for their remarkable contributions to our understanding of the sensations of temperature, pain and touch

David Julius
Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine
Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology
School of Medicine
The University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA USA

Ardem Patapoutian
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor, Department of Neuroscience
The Scripps Research Institute
La Jolla, CA USA

48th (2018)

for his fundamental and far-reaching studies of protein structure using X-ray crystallography

Steven C. Harrison
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Professor of Basic Medical Sciences
Harvard Medical School
Chief, Division of Molecular Medicine
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston, MA USA

VIDEO: 48TH AWARD LECTURE

47th (2017)

for her elucidation of the protection of telomeres and the maintenance of genome stability

Titia de Lange
Leon Hess Professor
American Cancer Society Research Professor
Head, Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics
Director, Anderson Center for Cancer Research
The Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA

VIDEO: 47TH AWARD LECTURE

46th (2016)

in recognition of her pioneering work on the mechanisms of protein folding and the severe consequences of protein misfolding that are manifest in disease

Susan Lindquist (1949-2016)
Professor  of Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Member, Whitehead Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA USA

VIDEO: 46TH AWARD LECTURES

45th (2015)

in recognition of his pioneering discoveries of molecular pathways and biological functions of protein degradation by autophagy

Yoshinori Ohsumi
(2016 Nobel Prize)
Professor
Frontier Research Center
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo, Japan

SOURCE

https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2021/january/rosenstiel-covid-vaccine.html

https://www.brandeis.edu/rosenstiel/rosenstiel-award/past.html

From: Brandeis Special Events <specialevents@brandeis.edu>

Reply-To: <specialevents@brandeis.edu>

Date: Friday, January 22, 2021 at 2:18 PM

To: “Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN” <AvivaLev-Ari@alum.berkeley.edu>

Subject: Brandeis University: 50th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award Ceremony

LIVE

Prof. James Haber

synthetic modified mRNA to produce the Spike protein
bypassing messenger RNA to curtail the efficacy of the infective power of the messenger

Dr. Derrick Rossi

2010 Founded Moderna
He is the CEO of Convelo Therapeutics.
DNA instructions of life are initiated
instructions for protein made in cytoplasm
intermediary mRNA (single structured) from DNA (double structured) transmitted to RNA
Why mRNA are not used in most labs? vs DNA and proteins
Gene therapy is DNA therapy
mRNA – is neglected = cellular reprogramming – therapeutic potential 2012 Nobel Prize by Japanese
mRNA immediately degrades
mRNA is intrinsically immunogenic
mRNA reside in nucleosides, paper in 2005, mRNA therapeutics potential discovery
UPenn licensed the discovery to a company
Most future vaccines will be mRNA
DNA and Recombinant DNA for therapeutics
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman – Lead contributors

Katalin Karikó, 1989 joined UPenn – Development of mRNA for Therapy

Sr. VP BioNtech Therapeutics

mRNA get the message to Ribosome translate to protein
plasmid DNA – SP6 PNA polymerase 1984 – transcription/capping
Human interferon IFN CDS
injecting mRNA to mice 1990 – cap analog va enzymatic cap
mRNA work in vivo – 1990 – Gene Therapy and gene delivery
mRNA for therapeutic – synthesis of mRNA and evaluating in mammalian cells
DNA isolate cDNA synthesis amplifying DNA then DNA Seq
1989 Taq DNA polymerase
Transfection – Lipofectin – 1987
IVT – evaluating gag mRNA in human dendritic cells – immune response detected
immunogenecity – mRNA
Dendritic – RNA transfection monocyte-derived human DCs ..inflammation response
tRNA – is enriched
modifying enzymes were unknown
incorporation of modified nucleotides into RNA by in vitro transcription
measuring inflammatory response
modified URIDINE-containing mRNA in Non-immunogenic
it Dimerize TLR7 & TLR*
Superior translation of lipofectin-derived pseudouridine-modified mRNA
Pseudouridine-containing mEPO mRNA delivery –
modified mRNA – HCT increases due to EPO –
Optimizing IVT mRNA
highly translatable mRNA – All
mRNA – new class of medicine – highly translatable
mRNA-loaded nanoparticle – human heart
cytokine response inflammatory
mRNA monoclonal antibodies

Dr. Faucci

mRNA based vaccine BioNtech in Germany and Moderna in Cambridge, MA
Basic research led to development of the Vaccine for the Pandemic

Dr. Drew Weissman

Nucleoside-modified mRNA SAR-COV-2
Viral Vectored RNA platform

Inactivated or live virus
viral vector
DNA
mRNA
protein subunits

CORONAVIRUS: Respiratory, GI in human and animals
2002 – SARS Bat -> civets ->human
Human to Human was not effective but 10% mortality
MERS-COv: Camel ->> Human
PAN coronavirus vaccine;
Discovery of mRNA: DNA transcription RNA translation protein
Nucleoside-modified
Benefits of RNA-based vaccines: can’t change DNA RNA is NON replication vector- short-lived controllable
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine works:

Inject vaccine – induce potent immune response – Uptake spike protein produced immune response trigered antibody T and B cell mount response
Vaccine efficacy 27 days after 2nd dose 94.8%

5 in a million – anafilactic response
NO CHANGE to DNA by the mRNA vaccine

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Allon Klein, Harvard Medical School, and Aviv Regev, Genentech, Recipients of National Academy of Sciences James Prize in Science and Technology Integration 2021 Award

Posted in James Prize in Science and Technology Integration on January 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Allon Klein, Harvard Medical School, and Aviv Regev, Genentech, Recipients of National Academy of Sciences James Prize in Science and Technology Integration 2021 Award

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

The National Academy of Sciences will award the inaugural James Prize in Science and Technology Integration to Allon Klein, Harvard Medical School, and Aviv Regev, Genentech Research and Early Development, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. They are receiving the $50,000 prize for “their concurrent development of now widely adopted massively parallel single-cell genomics to interrogate the gene expression profiles that define, at the level of individual cells, the distinct cell types in metazoan tissues, their developmental trajectories, and disease states, which integrated tools from molecular biology, engineering, statistics, and computer science.” The James Prize honors outstanding contributions made by researchers who are able to adopt or adapt information or techniques from outside their fields, integrating knowledge from two or more disciplines (e.g., engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, biomedicine, geosciences, astronomy, or computational sciences) to solve a major contemporary challenge not addressable from a single disciplinary perspective.

Klein is recognized for innovating high-throughput experimental and mathematical approaches to analyze single-cell transcriptomes at an unprecedented level of detail and discover how cell fate is decided in metazoan tissues. His work combines statistics and physics with molecular biology. He has mapped differentiation hierarchies, identified transitional developmental states to predict features of fate control, and discovered new cell types and regenerative programs.

Regev is credited with forging new ways to unite the disciplines of biology, computational science, and engineering as a pioneer in the field of single-cell biology, including developing some of its core experimental and analysis tools, and their application to discover cell types, states, programs, environmental responses, development, tissue locations, and regulatory circuits, and deploying these to assemble cellular atlases of the human body that illuminate mechanisms of disease with remarkable fidelity.

The prize, made possible through a generous donation from Robert “Bob” James, will be presented to Klein and Regev virtually during the National Academy of Sciences’ 158th annual meeting.

Awards News

» Stay tuned! The 2021 NAS Awards recipients will be announced on January 21 with the NAS Public Welfare Medal announced on January 25.
» In a recent episode of the podcast Clear+Vivid, hosted by 2016 Public Welfare Medalist Alan Alda, Marcia McNutt discusses her framework for delivering science in a crisis and how the National Academies are advising the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to listen.

SOURCE

From: NAS Awards Program <awards@nas.edu>

Reply-To: NAS Awards Program <awards@nas.edu>

Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 11:04 AM

To: “Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN” <AvivaLev-Ari@alum.berkeley.edu>

Subject: Inaugural James Prize in Science and Technology Integration Recipients Announced

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Joe Biden Announced Science Team Nominations for the New Administration

Posted in and Bioethics, Biological Engineering, Evidence-based decision-making, Foundations for supporting Science and Education, Funding Opportunities for Cancer Research, Health Law & Patient Safety, Health Law Policy, HealthCare IT, Interviews with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), Leadership, Power, Social Interlocking Connections, National Academy of Sciences AWARDS, Nobel Prize WInners, Personalized and Precision Medicine & Genomic Research, Precision Cancer Medicine, Women in Life Sciences, women in science, tagged aerospace, bioengineering, Broad Institute, Eric Lander, genomics, global warming, Human Genome Project, Joe Biden, MIT, nobel leureates, precision medicine, Princeton University, Science Advisory Panel, science policy, US science on January 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, PhD

In an announcement televised on C-Span, President Elect Joseph Biden announced his new Science Team to advise on science policy matters, as part of the White House Advisory Committee on Science and Technology. Below is a video clip and the transcript, also available at

https://www.c-span.org/video/?508044-1/president-elect-biden-introduces-white-house-science-team

COMING UP TONIGHT ON C-SPAN, NEXT, PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT KAMALA HARRIS ANNOUNCE SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THEIR WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE TEAM. AND THEN SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER TALKS ABOUT THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT TRUMP IN THE WEEKLY DEMOCRATIC ADDRESS. AND AFTER THAT, TODAY’S SPEECH BY VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE TO SAILORS AT NAVAL AIR STATION LAMORE IN CALIFORNIA. NEXT, PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT KAMALA HARRIS ANNOUNCE SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THEIR WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE TEAM. FROM WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, THIS IS ABOUT 40 MINUTES. PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN: GOOD AFTERNOON, FOLKS. I WAS TELLING THESE FOUR BRILLIANT SCIENTISTS AS I STOOD IN THE BACK, IN A WAY, THEY — THIS IS THE MOST EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT THAT I’VE GOTTEN TO MAKE IN THE ENTIRE CABINET RAISED TO A CABINET LEVEL POSITION IN ONE CASE. THESE ARE AMONG THE BRIGHTEST MOST DEDICATED PEOPLE NOT ONLY IN THE COUNTRY BUT THE WORLD. THEY’RE COMPOSED OF SOME OF THE MOST SCIENTIFIC BRILLIANT MINDS IN THE WORLD. WHEN I WAS VICE PRESIDENT AS — I I HAD INTENSE INTEREST IN EVERYTHING THEY WERE DOING AND I PAID ENORMOUS ATTENTION. AND I WOULD — LIKE A KID GOING BACK TO SCHOOL. SIT DOWN AND CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME AND THEY WERE — VERY PATIENT WITH ME. AND — BUT AS PRESIDENT, I WANTED YOU TO KNOW I’M GOING TO PAY A GREAT DEAL OF ATTENTION. WHEN I TRAVEL THE WORLD AS VICE PRESIDENT, I WAS OFTEN ASKED TO EXPLAIN TO WORLD LEADERS, THEY ASKED ME THINGS LIKE DEFINE AMERICA. TELL ME HOW CAN YOU DEFINE AMERICA? WHAT’S AMERICA? AND I WAS ON A TIBETAN PLATEAU WITH AT THE TIME WITH XI ZIN PING AND WE HAD AN INTERPRETER CAN I DEFINE AMERICA FOR HIM? I SAID YES, I CAN. IN ONE WORD. POSSIBILITIES. POSSIBILITIES. I THINK IT’S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY WE’VE OCCASIONALLY BEEN REFERRED TO AS UGLY AMERICANS. WE THINK ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE GIVEN THE CHANCE, WE CAN DO ANYTHING. AND THAT’S PART OF I THINK THE AMERICAN SPIRIT. AND WHAT THE PEOPLE ON THIS STAGE AND THE DEPARTMENTS THEY WILL LEAD REPRESENT ENORMOUS POSSIBILITIES. THEY’RE THE ONES ASKING THE MOST AMERICAN OF QUESTIONS, WHAT NEXT? WHAT NEXT? NEVER SATISFIED, WHAT’S NEXT? AND WHAT’S NEXT IS BIG AND BREATHTAKING. HOW CAN — HOW CAN WE MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE? AND THEY WERE JUST ASKING QUESTIONS FOR THE SAKE OF QUESTIONS, THEY’RE ASKING THESE QUESTIONS AS CALL TO ACTION. , TO INSPIRE, TO HELP US IMAGINE THE FUTURE AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE IT REAL AND IMPROVE THE LIVES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD. THIS IS A TEAM THAT ASKED US TO IMAGINE EVERY HOME IN AMERICA BEING POWERED BY RENEWABLE ENERGY WITHIN THE NEXT 10 YEARS. OR 3-D IMAGE PRINTERS RESTORING TISSUE AFTER TRAUMATIC INJURIES AND HOSPITALS PRINTING ORGANS FOR ORGAN TRANSPLANTS. IMAGINE, IMAGINE. AND THEY REALLY — AND, YOU KNOW, THEN RALLY, THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY TO GO ABOUT DOING WHAT WE’RE IMAGINING. YOU NEED SCIENCE, DATA AND DISCOVERY WAS A GOVERNING PHILOSOPHY IN THE OBAMA-BIDEN ADMINISTRATION. AND EVERYTHING FROM THE ECONOMY TO THE ENVIRONMENT TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM AND TO NATIONAL SECURITY. AND ON HEALTH CARE. FOR EXAMPLE, A BELIEF IN SCIENCE LED OUR EFFORTS TO MAP THE HUMAN BRAIN AND TO DEVELOP MORE PRECISE INDIVIDUALIZED MEDICINES. IT LED TO OUR ONGOING MISSION TO END CANCER AS WE KNOW IT, SOMETHING THAT IS DEEPLY PERSONAL TO BOTH MY FAMILY AND KAMALA’S FAMILY AND COUNTLESS FAMILIES IN AMERICA. WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA ASKED ME TO LEAD THE CANCER MOON SHOT, I KNEW WE HAD TO INJECT A SENSE OF URGENCY INTO THE FIGHT. WE BELIEVED WE COULD DOUBLE THE RATE OF PROGRESS AND DO IN FIVE YEARS WHAT OTHERWISE WOULD TAKE 10. MY WIFE, JILL, AND I TRAVELED AROUND THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD MEETING WITH THOUSANDS OF CANCER PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES, PHYSICIANS, RESEARCHERS, PHILANTHROPISTS, TECHNOLOGY LEADERS AND HEADS OF STATE. WE SOUGHT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND AND BREAK DOWN THE SILOS AND STOVE PIPES THAT PREVENT THE SHARING OF INFORMATION AND IMPEDE ADVANCES IN CANCER RESEARCH AND TREATMENT WHILE BUILDING A FOCUSED AND COORDINATED EFFORT HERE AT HOME AND ABROAD. WE MADE PROGRESS. BUT THERE’S SO MUCH MORE THAT WE CAN DO. WHEN I ANNOUNCED THAT I WOULD NOT RUN IN 2015 AT THE TIME, I SAID I ONLY HAD ONE REGRET IN THE ROSE GARDEN AND IF I HAD ANY REGRETS THAT I HAD WON, THAT I WOULDN’T GET TO BE THE PRESIDENT TO PRESIDE OVER CANCER AS WE KNOW IT. WELL, AS GOD WILLING, AND ON THE 20TH OF THIS MONTH IN A COUPLE OF DAYS AS PRESIDENT I’M GOING TO DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO GET THAT DONE. I’M GOING TO — GOING TO BE A PRIORITY FOR ME AND FOR KAMALA AND IT’S A SIGNATURE ISSUE FOR JILL AS FIRST LADY. WE KNOW THE SCIENCE IS DISCOVERY AND NOT FICTION. AND IT’S ALSO ABOUT HOPE. AND THAT’S AMERICA. IT’S IN THE D.N.A. OF THIS COUNTRY, HOPE. WE’RE ON THE CUSP OF SOME OF THE MOST REMARKABLE BREAKTHROUGHS THAT WILL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE THE WAY OF LIFE FOR ALL LIFE ON THIS PLANET. WE CAN MAKE MORE PROGRESS IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS, I PREDICT, THAN WE’VE MADE IN THE LAST 50 YEARS. AND EXPONENTIAL MOVEMENT. WE CAN ALSO FACE SOME OF THE MOST DIRE CRISES IN A GENERATION WHERE SCIENCE IS CRITICAL TO WHETHER OR NOT WE MEET THE MOMENT OF PERIL AND PROMISE THAT WE KNOW IS WITHIN OUR REACH. IN 1944, FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT ASKED HIS SCIENCE ADVISOR HOW COULD THE UNITED STATES FURTHER ADVANCE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE CRITICAL YEARS FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR? THE RESPONSE LED TO SOME OF THE MOST GROUND BREAKING DISCOVERIES IN THE LAST 75 YEARS. AND WE CAN DO THAT AGAIN. AND WE CAN DO MORE. SO TODAY, I’M PROUD TO ANNOUNCE A TEAM OF SOME OF THE COUNTRY’S MOST BRILLIANT AND ACCOMPLISHED SCIENTISTS TO LEAD THE WAY. AND I’M ASKING THEM TO FOCUS ON FIVE KEY AREAS. FIRST THE PANDEMIC AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN ABOUT WHAT IS POSSIBLE OR WHAT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE TO ADDRESS THE WIDEST RANGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH NEEDS. SECONDLY, THE ECONOMY, HOW CAN WE BUILD BACK BETTER TO ENSURE PROSPERITY IS FULLY SHARED ALL ACROSS AMERICA? AMONG ALL AMERICANS? AND THIRDLY, HOW SCIENCE HELPS US CONFRONT THIS CLIMATE CRISIS WE FACE IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD BUT IN AMERICA HOW IT HELPS US CONFRONT THE CLIMATE CRISIS WITH AMERICAN JOBS AND INGENUITY. AND FOURTH, HOW CAN WE ENSURE THE UNITED STATES LEADS THE WORLD IN TECHNOLOGIES AND THE INDUSTRIES THAT THE FUTURE THAT WILL BE CRITICAL FOR OUR ECONOMIC PROSPERITY AND NATIONAL SECURITY? ESPECIALLY WITH THE INTENSE INCREASED COMPETITION AROUND THE WORLD FROM CHINA ON? AND FIFTH, HOW CAN WE ASSURE THE LONG-TERM HEALTH AND TRUST IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN OUR NATION? YOU KNOW, THESE ARE EACH QUESTIONS THAT CALL FOR ACTION. AND I’M HONORED TO ANNOUNCE A TEAM THAT IS ANSWERING THE CALL TO SERVE. AS THE PRESIDENTIAL SCIENCE ADVISOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY, I NOMINATE ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT GUYS I KNOW, PERSONS I KNOW, DR. ERIC LANDER. AND THANK YOU, DOC, FOR COMING BACK. THE PIONEER — HE’S A PIONEER IN THE STIFFING COMMUNITY. PRINCIPAL LEADER IN THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT. AND NOT HYPERBOLE TO SUGGEST THAT DR. LANDER’S WORK HAS CHANGED THE COURSE OF HUMAN HISTORY. HIS ROLE IN HELPING US MAP THE GENOME PULLED BACK THE CURTAIN ON HUMAN DISEASE, ALLOWING SCIENTISTS, EVER SINCE, AND FOR GENERATIONS TO COME TO EXPLORE THE MOLECULAR BASIS FOR SOME OF THE MOST DEVASTATING ILLNESSES AFFECTING OUR WORLD. AND THE APPLICATION OF HIS PIONEERING WORK AS — ARE POISED TO LEAD TO INCREDIBLE CURES AND BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE YEARS TO COME. DR. LANDER NOW SERVES AS THE PRESIDENT AND FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE BRODE INSTITUTE AT M.I.T. AND HARVARD, THE WORLD’S FOREMOST NONPROFIT GENETIC RESEARCH ORGANIZATION. AND I CAME TO APPRECIATE DR. LANDER’S EXTRAORDINARY MIND WHEN HE SERVED AS THE CO-CHAIR OF THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL ON ADVISORS AND SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DURING THE OBAMA-BIDEN ADMINISTRATION. AND I’M GRATEFUL, I’M GRATEFUL THAT WE CAN WORK TOGETHER AGAIN. I’VE ALWAYS SAID THAT BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION WILL ALSO LEAD AND WE’RE GOING TO LEAD WITH SCIENCE AND TRUTH. WE BELIEVE IN BOTH. [LAUGHTER] GOD WILLING OVERCOME THE PANDEMIC AND BUILD OUR COUNTRY BETTER THAN IT WAS BEFORE. AND THAT’S WHY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, I’M GOING TO BE ELEVATING THE PRESIDENTIAL SCIENCE ADVISOR TO A CABINET RANK BECAUSE WE THINK IT’S THAT IMPORTANT. AS DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND SCIENCE AND — SCIENCE AND SOCIETY, I APPOINT DR. NELSON. SHE’S A PROFESSOR AT THE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY. THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL. AND ONE OF AMERICA’S LEADING SCHOLARS IN THE — AN AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR AND RESEARCHER AND EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND OUR SOCIETY. THE DAUGHTER OF A MILITARY FAMILY, HER DAD SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY AND HER MOM WAS AN ARMY CRIPPING TO RAFFER. DR. NELSON DEVELOPED A LOVE OF TECHNOLOGY AT A VERY YOUNG AGE PARTICULARLY WITH THE EARLY COMPUTER PRODUCTS. COMPUTING PRODUCTS AND CODE-BREAKING EQUIPMENT THAT EVERY KID HAS AROUND THEIR HOUSE. AND SHE GREW UP WITHIN HER HOME. WHEN I WROTE THAT DOWN, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, I MEAN, HOW MANY KIDS — ANY WAY, THAT PASSION WAS A PASSION FORGED A LIFELONG CURIOSITY ABOUT THE INEQUITIES AND THE POWER DIAMONDICS THAT SIT BENEATH THE SURFACE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND THE TECHNOLOGY WE BUILD. DR. NELSON IS FOCUSED ON THOSE INSIGHTS. AND THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY, LIKE FEW BEFORE HER EVER HAVE IN AMERICAN HISTORY. BREAKING NEW GROUND ON OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE SCIENCE PLAYS IN AMERICAN LIFE AND OPENING THE DOOR TO — TO A FUTURE WHICH SCIENCE BETTER SERVES ALL PEOPLE. AS CO-CHAIR OF THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL ON ADVISORS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, I APPOINT DR. FRANCIS ARNOLD, DIRECTOR OF THE ROSE BIOENGINEERING CENTER AT CALTECH AND ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING EXPERTS IN PROTEIN ENGINEERING, A LIFE-LONG CHAMPION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS WHO HAS BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE NATIONAL INVENTORS’ HALL OF FAME. THAT AIN’T A BAD PLACE TO BE. NOT ONLY IS SHE THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE ELECTED TO ALL THREE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND ENGINEERING AND ALSO THE FIRST WOMAN, AMERICAN WOMAN, TO WIN A NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY. A VERY SLOW LEARNER, SLOW STARTER, THE DAUGHTER OF PITTSBURGH, SHE WORKED AS A CAB DRIVER, A JAZZ CLUB SERVER, BEFORE MAKING HER WAY TO BERKELEY AND A CAREER ON THE LEADING EDGE OF HUMAN DISCOVERY. AND I WANT TO MAKE THAT POINT AGAIN. I WANT — IF ANY OF YOUR CHILDREN ARE WATCHING, LET THEM KNOW YOU CAN DO ANYTHING. THIS COUNTRY CAN DO ANYTHING. ANYTHING AT ALL. AND SO SHE SURVIVED BREAST CANCER, OVERCAME A TRAGIC LOSS IN HER FAMILY WHILE RISING TO THE TOP OF HER FIELD, STILL OVERWHELMINGLY DOMINATED BY MEN. HER PASSION HAS BEEN A STEADFAST COMMITMENT TO RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OUR PLANET AND HUMANKIND. SHE IS AN INSPIRING FIGURE TO SCIENTISTS ACROSS THE FIELD AND ACROSS NATIONS. AND I WANT TO THANK DR. ARNOLD FOR AGREEING TO CO-CHAIR A FIRST ALL WOMAN TEAM TO LEAD THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WHICH LEADS ME TO THE NEXT MEMBER OF THE TEAM. AS CO-CHAIR, THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, I APPOINT DR. MARIE ZUBER. A TRAIL BLAZER BRAISING GEO PHYSICIST AND PLANETARY SCIENTIST A. FORMER CHAIR OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD. FIRST WOMAN TO LEAD THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT AT M.I.T. AND THE FIRST WOMAN TO LEAD NASA’S ROBOTIC PLANETARY MISSION. GROWING UP IN COLE COUNTRY NOT FAR FROM HEAVEN, SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, IN CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, ABOUT 50 MILES SOUTH OF WHERE I WAS A KID, SHE DREAMED OF EXPLORING OUTER SPACE. COULD HAVE TOLD HER SHE WOULD JUST GO TO GREEN REACH IN SCRANTON AND FIND WHERE IT WAS. AND I SHOULDN’T BE SO FLIPPANT. BUT I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT THESE FOLKS. YOU KNOW, READING EVERY BOOK SHE COULD FIND AND LISTENING TO HER MOM’S STORIES ABOUT WATCHING THE EARLIEST ROCKET LAUNCH ON TELEVISION, MARIE BECAME THE FIRST PERSON IN HER FAMILY TO GO TO COLLEGE AND NEVER LET GO OF HER DREAM. TODAY SHE OVERSEES THE LINCOLN LABORATORY AT M.I.T. AND LEADS THE INSTITUTION’S CLIMATE ACTION PLAN. GROWING UP IN COLD COUNTRY, NOT AND FINALLY, COULD NOT BE HERE TODAY, BUT I’M PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I’VE HAD A LONG CONVERSATION WITH DR. FRANCIS COLLINS AND COULD NOT BE HERE TODAY. AND I’VE ASKED THEM TO STAY ON AS DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND — AT THIS CRITICAL MOMENT. I’VE KNOWN DR. COLLINS FOR MANY YEARS. I WORKED WITH HIM CLOSELY. HE’S BRILLIANT. A PIONEER. A TRUE LEADER. AND ABOVE ALL, HE’S A MODEL OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND I’M HONORED TO BE WORKING WITH HIM AGAIN. AND IT IS — IN HIS ABSENCE I WANT TO THANK HIM AGAIN FOR BEING WILLING TO STAY ON. I KNOW THAT WASN’T HIS ORIGINAL PLAN. BUT WE WORKED AN AWFUL LOT ON THE MOON SHOT AND DEALING WITH CANCER AND I JUST WANT TO THANK HIM AGAIN. AND TO EACH OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES, AND I SAY YOUR FAMILIES, THANK YOU FOR THE WILLINGNESS TO SERVE. AND NOT THAT YOU HAVEN’T BEEN SERVING ALREADY BUT TO SERVE IN THE ADMINISTRATION. AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, TO ALL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, THIS IS A TEAM THAT’S GOING TO HELP RESTORE YOUR FAITH IN AMERICA’S PLACE IN THE FRONTIER OF SCIENCE AND DISCOVER AND HOPE. I’M NOW GOING TO TURN THIS OVER STARTING WITH DR. LANDER, TO EACH OF OUR NOMINEES AND THEN WITH — HEAR FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT. BUT AGAIN, JUST CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH AND I REALLY MEAN IT. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR WILLING TO DO THIS. DOCTOR, IT’S ALL YOURS. I BETTER PUT MY MASK ON OR I’M GOING TO GET IN TROUBLE.

Director’s Page

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2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson

Posted in Interviews with Scientific Leaders, Nobel Prize WInners on October 12, 2020| Leave a Comment »

2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson

Reporter: Aviva Lev- Ari, PhD, RN

UPDATED on 10/16/2020

The Nobel Prize for economic sciences this year went to Paul MIlgrom and Robert Wilson. Milgrom is recognized as one of the world’s great experts in auction theory, and I interviewed him for my book In the Plex (finally out in paper next February!) about Google’s clever AdWords approach to bidding, which was crafted by Google engineer Eric Veach along with his boss Salar Kamangar. I’d asked Milgrom to compare the AdWords system to the competitor, Overture:

One fan of Veach’s system was the top auction theorist, Stanford economist Paul Milgrom. “Overture’s auctions were much less successful,” says Milgrom. “In that world, you bid by the slot. If you wanted to be in third position, you put in a bid for third. If there’s an obvious guy to win the first position, nobody would bid against him, and he’d get it cheap. If you wanted to be in every position, you had to make bids for each of them. But Google simplified the auction. Instead of making eight bids for the eight positions, you made one single bid. The competition for second position will automatically raise the price for the first position. So the simplification thickens the market. The effect is that it guarantees that there’s competition for the top positions.”

Veach and Kamangar’s implementation was so impressive that it changed even Milgrom’s way of thinking. “Once I saw this from Google, I began seeing it everywhere,” he says, citing examples in spectrum auctions, diamond markets, and the competition between Kenyan and Rwandan coffee beans. “I’ve begun to realize that Google somehow or other introduced a level of simplification to ad auctions that was not included before.” And it wasn’t just a theoretical advance. “Google immediately started getting higher prices for advertising than Overture was getting,” he notes.

SOURCE

From: WIRED’s Steven Levy <wired@newsletters.wired.com>

Date: Friday, October 16, 2020 at 8:00 AM

To: “Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN” <AvivaLev-Ari@alum.berkeley.edu>

Subject: Clarence Thomas wants to rethink internet speech. Be afraid

Paul Milgrom (left) and Robert Wilson share the 2020 Nobel prize in economic sciences for improvements to auction theory and invention of new auction formats.

Image Credit: Elena Zhukova for the Stanford Graduate School of Business

UPDATED on 10/13/2020

Philip Ball

The 2020 Nobel prize in economic sciences rewards work on an ancient form of transaction that has acquired new complexity and urgency in the modern age: the auction.

Insights in auction theory made by Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, both of Stanford University in California, have found applications ranging from the pricing of government bonds to the licensing of radio-spectrum bands in telecommunications.

Diane Coyle of the University of Cambridge, UK, says that the Nobel, announced on 12 October, will be widely welcomed. “These two not only did foundational work themselves”, she says, “but also inspired cohorts of younger researchers.”

Economist Preston McAfee of Google agrees. “I, and thousands like me, use the fruits of their work on a daily basis to make markets work better — to improve pricing, to manage incentives, to facilitate decision-making, to increase efficiency.”

Their research has intersected with computer science and communications engineering to lay the foundations for many online platforms, Coyle adds.

Economist John Kagel of Ohio State University in Columbus, USA, called it “an outstanding selection”.

Online platforms such as eBay have raised public awareness of some of the complexities of auctions. There are many ways to stage them: for example, in a so-called “English auction” the item on offer simply goes to the highest bidder; whereas in a “Dutch auction” the selling starts from a high price, and bidders submit the price they are willing to pay.

But bidding is affected by many more factors that might reduce the seller’s final profit, cause losses for the winning bidder, create inefficiencies of allocation, or harm the public good. The work of the two laureates has helped to reduce these problems and to suggest new, more efficient ways for auctions to be conducted.

One problem is that different bidders can have different degrees of knowledge about an item for sale. For example, in a property auction, all bidders for a property will have access to some public information such as its resale value. But other kinds of information — such as hidden structural damage — will be private and not known to everyone.

A bidder who does not have such information might end up overpaying if they want to buy the property. They might be able to infer what others know about the value if bids are public – and people start to drop out – but not if bids are private.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Wilson showed what happens to prices and profits in auctions when bidders have different degrees of private information.

Furthermore, if information about a property is highly uncertain — if the nature of the neighbourhood is rapidly changing, say — that could make buyers cautious and reduce the seller’s profit. In the 1980s, Milgrom — a former doctoral student of Wilson’s — developed models (partly in conjunction with Robert Weber of Northwestern University) that showed there is then an incentive for sellers to gather and share expert information with bidders, within different auction formats. The predictions of how such public information helps prevent losses to sellers and increases their revenue have been born out by experiments, says Kagel.

A spectrum of options

Auctions can be more complex when the goods for sale are divisible into parts or batches — for example, when governments sell licenses to companies bidding to operate in energy, telecommunications or transportation markets. One issue for such auctions is that sellers are vulnerable to collusion between buyers to keep the buying price down. Wilson’s work in the 1970s helped to identify these problems and to design new auctions to avoid them, for example in markets for electricity provision.

The sales of items might also be interdependent. A classic example in the 1990s was the sale of radio-frequency bands to telecom companies for mobile-phone networks — which many countries decided was best done through auctions.

If rights to frequency bands were simply auctioned region by region, a national telecoms company couldn’t be sure of acquiring the same frequency everywhere. And the value to them for one region would depend on whether they could buy the same frequency band elsewhere. The resulting patchwork of coverage would be inconvenient for users too.

To tackle such problems, Milgrom and Wilson (and independently, McAfee) devised the simultaneous multiple-round auction (SMRA). Here, bidders can place bids over several rounds of bidding. This gives them a chance to glean something about others’ private information while bidding, creating fairer and more efficient outcomes.

This approach was used in 1994 for auctioning telecom licenses in the United States, and has been adopted in Canada, India, and several European and Scandinavian countries. Milgrom has also devised other formats that ease some of the shortcomings of the SMRA.

“Unlike many theoreticians, Wilson and Milgrom brought their work to the real world, and transformed government policies toward auctions around the world,” says McAfee.

“There was no question that these two would win the Nobel prize at some point,” says economist Paul Klemperer of the University of Oxford. “It could have happened at any time in the past 20 years.”

“One could even imagine Paul Milgrom having a second Nobel prize,” he adds, for his work in information economics and industrial organization. Milgrom has given a Nobel acceptance speech before: in 1996, as a stand-in for William Vickery, who died three days after the announcement of his prize for laying the foundations of auction theory in the 1960s.

SOURCE

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02904-2?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=6b3b78efc9-briefing-dy-20201013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-6b3b78efc9-43323101

Prize announcement. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Mon. 12 Oct 2020

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2020/prize-announcement/

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Paul R. Milgrom

Prize share: 1/2

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Robert B. Wilson

Prize share: 1/2

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 was awarded jointly to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.”

To cite this section
MLA style: The Prize in Economic Sciences 2020. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Mon. 12 Oct 2020. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2020/summary/

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020

Paul R. Milgrom

Robert B. Wilson

Prize announcement

Announcement of the 2020 Prize in Economic Sciences by Professor Göran K. Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on 12 October 2020.

“This prize is about avoiding the winner’s curse”

Immediately after the announcement, Tommy Andersson, member of the committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, was interviewed by freelance journalist Joanna Rose regarding the 2020 Prize in Economic Sciences.

To cite this section
MLA style: Prize announcement. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Mon. 12 Oct 2020. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2020/prize-announcement/

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020

Paul R. Milgrom

Robert B. Wilson

Press release: The Prize in Economic Sciences 2020

English
English (pdf)
Swedish
Swedish (pdf)
12 October 2020
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 to
Paul R. Milgrom
Stanford University, USA
Robert B. Wilson
Stanford University, USA
“for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”
Their theoretical discoveries have improved auctions in practice
This year’s Laureates, Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, have studied how auctions work. They have also used their insights to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies. Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world.
People have always sold things to the highest bidder, or bought them from whoever makes the cheapest offer. Nowadays, objects worth astronomical sums of money change hands every day in auctions, not only household objects, art and antiquities, but also securities, minerals and energy. Public procurements can also be conducted as auctions.
Using auction theory, researchers try to understand the outcomes of different rules for bidding and final prices, the auction format. The analysis is difficult, because bidders behave strategically, based on the available information. They take into consideration both what they know themselves and what they believe other bidders to know.
Robert Wilson developed the theory for auctions of objects with a common value – a value which is uncertain beforehand but, in the end, is the same for everyone. Examples include the future value of radio frequencies or the volume of minerals in a particular area. Wilson showed why rational bidders tend to place bids below their own best estimate of the common value: they are worried about the winner’s curse – that is, about paying too much and losing out.
Paul Milgrom formulated a more general theory of auctions that not only allows common values, but also private values that vary from bidder to bidder. He analysed the bidding strategies in a number of well-known auction formats, demonstrating that a format will give the seller higher expected revenue when bidders learn more about each other’s estimated values during bidding.
Over time, societies have allocated ever more complex objects among users, such as landing slots and radio frequencies. In response, Milgrom and Wilson invented new formats for auctioning off many interrelated objects simultaneously, on behalf of a seller motivated by broad societal benefit rather than maximal revenue. In 1994, the US authorities first used one of their auction formats to sell radio frequencies to telecom operators. Since then, many other countries have followed suit.
“This year’s Laureates in Economic Sciences started out with fundamental theory and later used their results in practical applications, which have spread globally. Their discoveries are of great benefit to society,” says Peter Fredriksson, chair of the Prize Committee.
Illustrations
The illustrations are free to use for non-commercial purposes. Attribute ”© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences”
Illustration: Auctions (pdf)
Illustration: Winner’s curse (pdf)
Illustration: Auction frequencies (pdf)
Read more about this year’s prize
Popular science background: The quest for the perfect auction
Scientific Background: Improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats
Paul R. Milgrom, born 1948 in Detroit, USA.
Ph.D. 1979 from Stanford University, Stanford, USA. Shirley and Leonard Ely Jr. Professor of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, USA.
Robert B. Wilson, born 1937 in Geneva, USA.
D.B.A. 1963 from Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus, Stanford University, USA.
The Prize amount: 10 million Swedish kronor, to be shared equally between the Laureates.
Further information: www.kva.se and http://www.nobelprize.org
Press contact: Eva Nevelius, Press Secretary, +46 70 878 67 63, eva.nevelius@kva.se
Experts: Tommy Andersson, +46 73 358 26 54, tommy.andersson@nek.lu.se, Tore Ellingsen, +46 70 796 10 49, tore.ellingsen@hhs.se, Torsten Persson, +46 79 313 39 04, torsten.persson@iies.su.se, Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

SOURCE

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2020/summary/

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The University of California has a proud legacy of winning Nobel Prizes, 68 faculty and staff have been awarded 69 Nobel Prizes.

Posted in Interviews with Scientific Leaders, Nobel Prize WInners on October 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »

The University of California has a proud legacy of winning Nobel Prizes, 68 faculty and staff have been awarded 69 Nobel Prizes.

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

PREVIOUS PRIZE WINNERS

The University of California has a proud legacy of winning Nobel Prizes that stretches all the way back to 1939, when Ernest O. Lawrence was awarded the prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron. In the years since, dozens of other University of California faculty and staff have been awarded this highest international honor for their contributions in medicine, economics, physics and more.

Today, 68 faculty and staff have been awarded 69 Nobel Prizes.

View as grid

Name

Campus affiliation

Field of study

Year of award

Jennifer Doudna

UC Berkeley

Chemistry

2020
Andrea Ghez

UCLA

Physics

2020
Reinhard Genzel

UC Berkeley

Physics

2020
Randy Schekman

UC Berkeley

Physiology or medicine

2013
Lloyd Shapley

UCLA

Economics

2012
Shinya Yamanaka

UC San Francisco

Physiology or medicine

2012
Saul Perlmutter

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

2011
Elizabeth Blackburn

UC San Francisco

Physiology or medicine

2009
Oliver E. Williamson

UC Berkeley

Economics

2009
Roger Y. Tsien

UC San Diego

Chemistry

2008
George Smoot

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

2006
Richard R. Schrock

UC Riverside

Chemistry

2005
David Gross

UC Santa Barbara

Physics

2004
Finn E. Kydland

UC Santa Barbara

Economic sciences

2004
Irwin Rose

UC Irvine

Chemistry

2004
Robert F. Engle

UC San Diego

Economic sciences

2003
Clive Granger

UC San Diego

Economic sciences

2003
Sydney Brenner

UC San Diego

Physiology or medicine

2002
George Akerlof

UC Berkeley

Economic sciences

2001
Alan J. Heeger

UC Santa Barbara

Chemistry

2000
Herbert Kroemer

UC Santa Barbara

Physics

2000
Daniel McFadden

UC Berkeley

Economic sciences

2000
Louis J. Ignarro

UCLA

Physiology or medicine

1998
Walter Kohn

UC Santa Barbara

Chemistry

1998
Robert B. Laughlin

UC Livermore Lab

Physics

1998
Paul D. Boyer

UCLA

Chemistry

1997
Steven Chu

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

1997
Stanley B. Prusiner

UC San Francisco

Physiology or medicine

1997
Paul Crutzen

UC San Diego

Chemistry

1995
Mario J. Molina

UC San Diego

Chemistry

1995
Frederick Reines

UC Irvine

Physics

1995
F. Sherwood Rowland

UC Irvine

Chemistry

1995
John Harsanyi

UC Berkeley

Economic sciences

1994
Harry Markowitz

UC San Diego

Economic sciences

1990
J. Michael Bishop

UC San Francisco

Physiology or medicine

1989
Harold E. Varmus

UC San Francisco

Physiology or medicine

1989
Donald J. Cram

UCLA

Chemistry

1987
Yuan T. Lee

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Chemistry

1986
Gerard Debreu

UC Berkeley

Economic sciences

1983
Czeslaw Milosz

UC Berkeley

Literature

1980
Roger Guillemin

UC San Diego

Physiology or medicine

1977
Renato Dulbecco

UC San Diego

Physiology or medicine

1975
George Emil Palade

UC San Diego

Physiology or medicine

1974
John Robert Schrieffer

UC Santa Barbara

Physics

1972
Hannes Alfven

UC San Diego

Physics

1970
Luis Walter Alvarez

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

1968
Robert W. Holley

UC San Diego

Physiology or medicine

1968
Julian Schwinger

UCLA

Physics

1965
Charles H. Townes

UC Berkeley

Physics

1964
Maria Goeppert-Mayer

UC San Diego

Physics

1963
Francis Crick

UC San Diego

Physiology or medicine

1962
Melvin Calvin

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Chemistry

1961
Donald A. Glaser

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

1960
Willard Libby

UCLA

Chemistry

1960
Owen Chamberlain

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

1959
Emilio Segrè

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Chemistry

1959
Linus Pauling

UC San Diego

Chemistry, Peace

1954, 1962
Edwin McMillan

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Chemistry

1951
Glenn T. Seaborg

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Chemistry

1951
William Giauque

UC Berkeley

Chemistry

1949
John Howard Northrop

UC Berkeley

Chemistry

1946
Wendell Meredith Stanley

UC Berkeley

Chemistry

1946
Ernest Lawrence

UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab

Physics

1939
Harold Urey

UC San Diego

Chemistry

1934

HOW UC NOBEL LAUREATES ARE COUNTED

Our list of Nobel Prize winners includes University of California faculty and staff who were affiliated with UC when they received their award. It also includes faculty and staff who joined UC after receiving their Nobel Prize. And although we are immensely proud of the many UC alumni who have gone on to receive Nobel Prizes, they are not counted here. Nor are visiting scholars or others who had short-term assignments with UC. Finally, our Nobelist list is a “lifetime” list and includes those living, retired or deceased.

SOURCE

https://nobel.universityofcalifornia.edu/

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020: Emmanuelle Charpentier & Jennifer A. Doudna

Posted in Award Nominations, Cell Biology, CRISPR alternative for editing genes without cutting, CRISPR applied to Human Germ Line, CRISPR/Cas9 & Gene Editing, DNA repair, Gene Therapy & Gene Editing Development, Genetics & Innovations in Treatment, Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Genome Biology, Interviews with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), Molecular Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Nobel Prize WInners, Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine, tagged CRISPR –Cas9 system for genetic engineering, CRISPR Biology • Genome Editing • Gene Drives • DNA Repair • Model and Industrial Organisms • Technology Development • Stem Cells/Cancer • Genome-Wide Screens, CRISPR-based gene editing, CRISPR-Cas9, CRISPR/Cas and base editing, gene editing, gene editing technology platform, Jennifer Doudna, nobel leureates, Nobel Prize, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Stanford University on October 8, 2020| 1 Comment »

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020: Emmanuelle Charpentier & Jennifer A. Doudna

Reporters: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D. and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 to

Emmanuelle Charpentier
Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany

Jennifer A. Doudna
University of California, Berkeley, USA

“for the development of a method for genome editing”

Genetic scissors: a tool for rewriting the code of life

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true.

Researchers need to modify genes in cells if they are to find out about life’s inner workings. This used to be time-consuming, difficult and sometimes impossible work. Using the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, it is now possible to change the code of life over the course of a few weeks.

“There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all. It has not only revolutionised basic science, but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to ground-breaking new medical treatments,” says Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

As so often in science, the discovery of these genetic scissors was unexpected. During Emmanuelle Charpentier’s studies of Streptococcus pyogenes, one of the bacteria that cause the most harm to humanity, she discovered a previously unknown molecule, tracrRNA. Her work showed that tracrRNA is part of bacteria’s ancient immune system, CRISPR/Cas, that disarms viruses by cleaving their DNA.

Charpentier published her discovery in 2011. The same year, she initiated a collaboration with Jennifer Doudna, an experienced biochemist with vast knowledge of RNA. Together, they succeeded in recreating the bacteria’s genetic scissors in a test tube and simplifying the scissors’ molecular components so they were easier to use.

In an epoch-making experiment, they then reprogrammed the genetic scissors. In their natural form, the scissors recognise DNA from viruses, but Charpentier and Doudna proved that they could be controlled so that they can cut any DNA molecule at a predetermined site. Where the DNA is cut it is then easy to rewrite the code of life.

Since Charpentier and Doudna discovered the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors in 2012 their use has exploded. This tool has contributed to many important discoveries in basic research, and plant researchers have been able to develop crops that withstand mould, pests and drought. In medicine, clinical trials of new cancer therapies are underway, and the dream of being able to cure inherited diseases is about to come true. These genetic scissors have taken the life sciences into a new epoch and, in many ways, are bringing the greatest benefit to humankind.

Illustrations

The illustrations are free to use for non-commercial purposes. Attribute ”© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences”

Illustration: Using the genetic scissors (pdf)
Illustration: Streptococcus’ natural immune system against viruses:CRISPR/Cas9 pdf)
Illustration: CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors (pdf)

2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for Hepatitis C Discovery goes to British scientist Michael Houghton and US researchers Harvey Alter and Charles Rice

Posted in Interviews with Scientific Leaders, Nobel Prize WInners on October 5, 2020| 1 Comment »

2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for Hepatitis C Discovery goes to British scientist Michael Houghton and US researchers Harvey Alter and Charles Rice

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020

Harvey J. Alter — Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.

Michael Houghton — Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.

Charles M. Rice — Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.”

Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to Hepatitis C discovery

By James Gallagher Health and science correspondent

The winners are British scientist Michael Houghton and US researchers Harvey Alter and Charles Rice.
The Nobel Prize committee said their discoveries ultimately “saved millions of lives”. The virus is a common cause of liver cancer and a major reason why people need a liver transplant.
In the 1960s, there was huge concern that people receiving donated blood were getting chronic hepatitis (liver inflammation) from an unknown, mysterious disease. The Nobel Prize committee said a blood transfusion at the time was like “Russian roulette”. Highly sensitive blood tests mean such cases have now been eliminated in many parts of the world, and effective anti-viral drugs have also been developed. “For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating Hepatitis C virus from the world,” the prize committee said. However, the 70 million people are currently living with the virus, which still kills around 400,000 a year.
The mystery killer
The viruses Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B had been discovered by the mid-1960s.
But Prof Harvey Alter, while studying transfusion patients at the US National Institutes of Health in 1972, showed there was another, mystery, infection at work. Patients were still getting sick after receiving donated blood. He showed that giving blood from infected patients to chimpanzees led to them developing the disease.
The mysterious illness became known as “non-A, non-B” hepatitis in and the hunt was now on.
Prof Michael Houghton, while at the pharmaceutical firm Chiron, managed to isolated the genetic sequence of the virus in 1989. This showed it was a type of flavivirus and it was named Hepatitis C.
And Prof Charles Rice, while at Washington University in St. Louis, applied the finishing touches in 1997. He injected a genetically engineered Hepatitis C virus into the liver of chimpanzees and showed this could lead to hepatitis.

SOURCE

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54418463

2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine went to:

2019 – Sir Peter Ratcliffe, William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza for discovered how cells sense and adapt to oxygen levels
2018 – James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo for discovering how to fight cancer using the body’s immune system
2017- Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young for unravelling how bodies keep a circadian rhythm or body clock
2016 – Yoshinori Ohsumi for discovering how cells remain healthy by recycling waste
2015 – William C Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura and Youyou Tu for anti-parasite drug discoveries
2014 – John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for discovering the brain’s navigating system

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2020 AAAI US$1M Annual Award for Societal Impact of Artificial Intelligence goes to MIT’s CSAIL Professor, Regina Barzilay

Posted in Artificial Intelligence Applications in Health Care, Artificial Intelligence in CANCER, Artificial Intelligence in Health Care - Tools & Innovations, Artificial Intelligence in Medicine - Application for Diagnosis, Deep Learning in Pathology, Interviews with Scientific Leaders on September 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

2020 AAAI US$1M Annual Award for Societal Impact of Artificial Intelligence goes to MIT’s CSAIL Professor, Regina Barzilay

UPDATED on 3/14/2021

AI reduces variability in breast density reporting

By Erik L. Ridley, AuntMinnie staff writer

“The model learns to make subjective assessments without the bias of human labeling for training, but with some guidance and therefore not completely unsupervised learning,” she said.
The software was assessed in a reader study using a set of 792 screening mammograms that included many challenging borderline samples and came from three institutions, two continents, and three vendors, according to Watanabe. The seven radiologists in the reader study had spent at least 75% of their time reading mammograms for the last three years and read more than 5,000 mammograms each year.
The readers had significant inter-reader variability in their density assessments, producing a kappa of 0.35 for the specific BI-RADS A-D category assessments, as well as a kappa of 0.6 in the less-challenging binary classification of dense versus nondense breast tissue, according to Watanabe.
The AI software also demonstrated a level of agreement with the reader results that correlated with the degree of reader consensus.
“In cases where there was 100% reader agreement, cmDensity was near perfect and was perfect for four-class and two-class assessments, respectively, with kappas of 0.97 and 1.0,” she said.
The few outlier assessments for the specific BI-RADS categories were off by just one BI-RADS class, Watanabe said.
The software was also superior in terms of intra-reader variability, yielding an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.99, compared with an ICC range of 0.70 to 0.82 for the radiologists, according to the researchers.
SOURCE
https://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=wom&pag=dis&ItemID=131757
Barzilay’s work in AI, which ranges from tools for early cancer detection to platforms to identify new antibiotics, is increasingly garnering recognition: On Wednesday, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence named Barzilay as the inaugural recipient of a new annual award honoring an individual developing or promoting AI for the good of society. The award comes with a $1 million prize sponsored by the Chinese education technology company Squirrel AI Learning.
Barzilay’s treatment was successful, and she believes her clinical team at MGH did the best they could in providing her with standard care. At the same time, she said, “it was extremely not satisfying to see how the simplest things that the technology can address were not addressed” — including a delayed diagnosis, an inability to collect data, and statistical flaws in studies used to make treatment decisions.
AAAI and Squirrel AI Learning Announce the Establishment of US$1M Annual Award for Societal Impact of Artificial Intelligence
May 28, 2019
Beijing, China
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and Squirrel AI Learning announced the establishment of a new $1M annual award for societal benefits of AI. The award will be sponsored by Squirrel AI Learning as part of its mission to promote the use of artificial intelligence with lasting positive effects for society.
The new Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence to Benefit Humanity was announced jointly by Derek Haoyang Li, Founder and Chairman of Squirrel AI Learning, and Yolanda Gil, President of AAAI, at the 2019 conference for AI for adaptive Education (AIAED) in Beijing.
https://aaai.org/Pressroom/Releases/release-19-0528.php

SOURCE

When AI is the opposite of sinister: An MIT researcher is held up as model of how algorithms can benefit humanity

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Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs: Podcast by Denise Silber spoke with Moderna CEO and Harvard alumnus Stéphane Bancel: The race to find a vaccine – what it takes to develop a vaccine during a pandemic, Leadership in managing a science-based company

Posted in CEOs of Biotech Companies, Intellectual Property, Interviews with Scientific Leaders on July 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs: Podcast by Denise Silber spoke with Moderna CEO and Harvard alumnus Stéphane Bancel: The race to find a vaccine – what it takes to develop a vaccine during a pandemic, Leadership in managing a science-based company

Reporter: Aviva Lev- Ari, PhD, RN

IN THIS EPISODE:
In this episode, Denise Silber, host of HAE Invites, interviews the CEO of Moderna Therapeutics (MRNA), one of the most strategic and observed life science companies of the COVID crisis. In December 2018, Moderna became the largest biotech IPO in history. Now in 2020, they are called upon to do what has never been done before, to accelerate the development of a vaccine for a new disease. Join Denise as she speaks with Stéphane Bancel, the founding CEO of this Cambridge, MA research-based firm, whose pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) technology platform, includes a leading COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR FREE:

HERE’S A GLIMPSE OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

Where Moderna Therapeutics is in the process of bringing the vaccine to market and who their competitors are

How the population could be segmented for the distribution of the vaccine

Current thinking on the need of a booster to prolong immunity

How Messenger RNA technology can be a platform for producing vaccines and medicines in an accelerated time frame

The importance of asking “what if”, making decisions with incomplete information, and being transparent when managing in a science-based company

How to empower a team to do what has never been done before, through boldness, curiosity, and collaboration

How to share and communicate common values as the company grows

Why scientific failure is such a valuable experience

How the Case Method at HBS helps us overcome our blind spots

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Stéphane Bancel on LinkedIn

Moderna Therapeutics Website

TedX Talk by Stéphane Bancel “What if mRNA could be a drug?”

Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs

Denise Silber on LinkedIn

STÉPHANE BANCEL CEO, MODERNA THERAPEUTICS

Stéphane Bancel has served as CEO of Moderna Therapeutics since October 2011 and as a member of Moderna’s board of directors since March 2011. Before joining the Company, he served for five years as Chief Executive Officer of the French diagnostics company bioMérieux SA. From July 2000 to March 2006, Stéphane Bancel served in various roles at Eli Lilly and Company, including as Managing Director, Belgium and as Executive Director, Global Manufacturing Strategy and Supply Chain. Prior to Lilly, he served as Asia-Pacific Sales and Marketing Director for bioMérieux.
Stéphane Bancel currently serves on the board of directors of Qiagen N.V. and previously served on the board of directors of BG Medicine, Inc. and Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYRS). He is currently a Venture Partner at Flagship Pioneering and a trustee of the Museum of Science in Boston. Stéphane Bancel holds a Master of Engineering degree from École Centrale Paris (ECP), a Master of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.