Abstract

On September 25 at the Hotel Pierre in New York City, seven prominent scientists, representing a generation of landmark discoveries in biology and medicine, stepped to the podium to receive this year's Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards, a coveted honor bestowed annually since 1946 by The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The research of six of this year's recipients made possible groundbreaking discoveries in the field of cancer research. The research of the seventh, who received his award for special achievement in medical science, revolutionized scientists' model for enzyme-substrate interactions, findings that had an impact on a number of disciplines. 1998 Lasker Awardees: From left, Daniel E. Koshland Jr., Paul Nurse, Janet D. Rowley, Lee Harwell, Yoshio Masui, Peter C. Nowell, and Alfred G. Knudson Jr. All three winners of the clinical medical research award played key roles in advancing scientists' understanding of the genetic basis of cancer. In the case of Nowell and Rowley, their findings collectively painted a complete picture of the first cancer-associated chromosomal abnormality. In the case of Knudson, his "two-hit" hypothesis demonstrated how certain multiple genetic mutations dictate the pathogenesis of the disease. In 1914, German cytologist Theodor Boveri became the first to