The inaugural Richard N. Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology was awarded to Marvin H. Caruthers of the University of Colorado Boulder in a ceremony and symposium at the Broad Institute on September 21, 2023. The prize, created by the Merkin Family Foundation and administered by the Broad, recognizes novel technologies that have significantly improved human health and carries a $400,000 award.
Nominations for the 2024 Merkin Prize opened on September 6, 2023 and close on December 6, 2023 at 11:59 pm ET.
Caruthers was announced as the winner in June for his development, in 1981, of an efficient, automated technology for synthesizing DNA. Caruthers’ innovation of chemical reactions that quickly assemble nucleotides into strands of DNA became an indispensable element of modern molecular medicine. Today, scientists use such reactions to produce the customizable DNA and RNA molecules that enable genetic sequencing, drug and vaccine development, pathogen tests, cancer diagnostics, and more.
Caruthers recalled how, at a conference in 1975, he wa
