Schreiber awarded Balzan Prize for pioneering cancer research

Robert D. Schreiber, PhD, the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Distinguished Professor at Washington University School of Medicine, has been named a co-recipient of the Balzan Prize for his groundbreaking work in immunology and melanoma research.

The award is meant to “foster culture, the sciences and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace and fraternity among peoples throughout the world,” according to the International Balzan Prize Foundation. 

Schreiber will receive the award with co-recipient James Allison, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on Nov. 17 in Bern, Switzerland. It comes with a $790,000 prize, half of which must go toward research. 

“Professors Schreiber and Allison have played transformative roles in the field of tumor immunology,” said Jules Hoffmann, emeritus distinguished class research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research, in announcing the prize winners Monday. “Both have collaborated recently in the identification of tumor-specific neoantigens, together with other scientists, an approach that might lead to the development of effective personalized cancer-specific vaccines.” 

By targeting tumor-specific neoantigens, which are formed during cancer development and are unique to each patient’s tumor, Schreiber and other scientists aim to eradicate cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. 

Schreiber, who also is director of the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs at the School of Medicine and co-leader of the tumor immunology program at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, helped to pioneer our understanding of the immune system’s potential role in battling cancer. He and collaborators at the School of Medicine have laid the foundation for the development of personalized vaccines for patients with cancers of the breast, brain, lung, pancreas, prostate, melanoma and certain forms of lymphoma. 

Balzan Prizes are awarded in four subject areas – two in the sciences and two in the humanities – that change every year.

The Balzan Foundation acts jointly through two foundations, one headquartered in Milan and the other in Zurich. The foundation’s General Prize Committee is  composed of respected European scholars and scientists . Eugenio Balzan, for whom the foundation is named, was a leading figure in business and culture in Milan at the beginning of the 20th century.