One of the most prestigious medical research awards bestowed on proteomics pioneer Ruedi Aebersold

Ruedi Aebersold, Matthias Mann and John Yates are receiving the award "for laying the foundations of modern proteomics through groundbreaking innovations in quantitative protein measurement, mass spectrometry and computer-assisted analysis," as the Gairdner Foundation states in its press release. 

The three researchers solved three interrelated problems: how to measure the many proteins in a cell simultaneously, how to make these measurements accurate and reliable, and how to interpret the complex data in biological terms. The work of the three researchers enables the comprehensive examination and study of proteins ¨C the molecules that are central to cell functions and represent the important targets for many drugs.  

The advances the three researchers achieved have had a massive impact on biomedical research and medicine. Today, proteomics is crucial for understanding disease mechanisms, for example in cancer, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, and infectious diseases. This branch of research represents a crucially significant foundation for personalised medicine. 

Developing gel-free methods  

Ruedi Aebersold has long ranked as one of the world's most influential proteomics researchers. He has devoted his entire career to researching proteins and revolutionised protein analysis in the process.  

Previously, researchers separated proteins using polymer gels in an electric field and identified one or a few proteins by way of protracted chemical processes. Aebersold developed gel-free methods in which a mass spectrometry device detects and identifies many proteins simultaneously and determines their concentration precisely.  

With the advent of this key advance, Aebersold turned proteomics into a quantitative science that also sheds a light on the interactions between a multitude of proteins. The now emeritus ETH professor developed a series of analytical methods and computer models that can be harnessed to analyse the identity, quantity and mutual interactions of all proteins in a given sample. 

A small community evolves into a large field 

"The award is a great honour for me and all the former members of my group," as the former ETH professor emphasizes, who also worked with some of the other award winners ¨C or competed with them.  

"The fact that the prize is being awarded to the three of us underlines that proteomics research started out as a small community, and one that was able to develop the field through collaboration and competition. I consider myself very fortunate that my career as a young researcher coincided with the time when proteomics became possible and I was able to help shape it," says Aebersold. 

Aebersold obtained a doctorate in cell biology at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, and then continued his career at Caltech, Pasadena, in the USA. He later moved on to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. In 2000, Aebersold co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle together with Leroy Hood and Alan Aderem. He returned to Switzerland in 2004. From 2005 to 2020, he was active as Professor of Systems Biology at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. 

Spin-offs apply methods and results 

ETH Zurich offered him the opportunity to establish the Institute for Molecular Systems Biology in the Department of Biology, and to work there with his group until his retirement. Far from actually retiring, he remained committed to his research field and worked on projects such as the Tumor Profiler Project, which relies on molecular and cellular analyses to tailor therapies to individual cancer patients. His laboratory also gave rise to spin-off companies, including Biognosys and Proteomedix, which commercially exploit and further develop the technologies and results developed in his laboratory. 

Aebersold has received multiple prestigious awards acknowledging his research, including the Otto Naegeli Prize, the Paracelsus Prize, the Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize and the H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics.