Shaw Prize awarded to genetics expert

Professor Sir Adrian Bird has been awarded a Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.

The Buchanan Professor of Genetics in the School of Biological Sciences has been recognised for the discovery of genes and proteins linked to the developmental disorder Rett syndrome.

Joint award

Professor Bird shares the prize with Professor Huda Zoghbi of Baylor College of Medicine, Director of Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, US.

Details of the prize was announced at a press conference in Hong Kong, and the award will be made at a presentation ceremony there in September.

The Shaw Prize consists of three annual awards in the fields of Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences.

The monetary award for each prize is US$1.2 million.