British chemists David Klenerman and Shankar Balasubramanian, together with French biophysicist Pascal Mayer, win Spain’s top science prize, the Princess of Asturias Award for scientific and technical research, on Wednesday. The award recognises their DNA sequencing work and how it supports clinical diagnosis and research across areas including biology, biomedicine, forensic medicine and ecology.
The sources say their research contributes to making genome sequencing far faster and more cost-effective. They note that sequencing a complete human genome used to take months and cost millions of euros, while modern methods allow sequencing in about a day and at substantially lower cost.
The award is also linked to the Covid-19 pandemic: rapid sequencing enables scientists to determine the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus’s genetic information more quickly, which supports faster vaccine development. One source adds that Klenerman and Balasubramanian co-founded Solexa, later renamed Illumina, which developed a commercial genome sequencing approach described as rapid, cheaper and efficient. The three scientists are recognised for building on Mayer’s earlier work related to amplifying DNA at the laboratory surface.
