Eric S. Lander, Ph.D. Founding Director Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard Cambridge, MA USA

Eric S. Lander, Ph.D., is one of the driving forces behind today's revolution in genomics. He was a principal leader of the Human Genome Project and is founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT. He is also professor of Biology at MIT, professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, and a member of Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research, which he founded in 1990. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Lander and colleagues were the leading contributors to the genetics and physical maps of the human and mouse genomes; launched a revolution in the study of human genetic variation; developed analytical and laboratory techniques for studying complex genetic traits in human, animal and plant populations as well as for creating a molecular taxonomy of cancer; and applied these techniques to a broad range of common diseases, including diabetes, inflammatory diseases, various types of cancers, and a number of less-common genetic illnesses.

Dr. Lander's honors and awards include the MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship in 1987, the Woodrow Wilson Prize for Public Service from Princeton University in 1998, the City of Medicine Award in 2001, and the Gairdner Foundation International Award of Canada in 2002. Dr. Lander was elected a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1997 and the U.S. Institute of Medicine in 1999, and was selected to deliver a special Millennium Lecture at the White House in 2000.

The winner of the Society for Biomolecular Sciences Achievement Award for Innovation in HTS is invited to present an award lecture at the annual conference. Honorable mention is made in the Journal of Biomolecular Screening, and a $5,000 honorarium and plaque are also presented to the winner. The Award recognizes outstanding achievements in research, innovation, groundbreaking foundation or seminal contributions that have proven to be broadly applicable to biomolecular sciences or pharmaceutical/agricultural lead discovery.

D. Lansing Taylor, Ph.D. CEO Cellumen, Inc. Pittsburgh, PA, USA

D. Lansing Taylor, Ph.D. is the founder, President and CEO of Cellumen, the systems cell biology company doing collaborative drug-discovery programs with the pharmaceutical industry using high content screening with existing and proprietary reagents. Before Cellumen, Dr. Taylor founded Cellomics, Inc., the company that created high-content screening, and co-founded Biological Detection Systems, Inc. (BDS), which developed, patented, and commercialized the multi-color, fluorescent, cyanine dyes now standard in fluorescence detection. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, the Pittsburgh Technology Council, Celsense, Inc. and NetHealth Systems, Inc., and is on the external advisory committee for the Mayo Clinic and Foundation Cancer Center. Dr. Taylor is the author of more than 15 patents and over 140 scientific papers.

The Society for Biomolecular Sciences Accomplishment Award consists of $1,000, recognition in the Journal of Biomolecular Screening, and a plaque. The Award is presented annually to an SBS member who has distinguished him/herself in advancing the art and science of drug discovery.