Dana-Farber’s Philip J. Kranzusch, Ph.D., Receives 2025 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists

Philip J. Kranzusch, Ph.D., Professor of Cancer Immunology and Virology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was considered one of three scientists awarded high honors on the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, a major prize for early-career researchers. Presented by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences, the awards acknowledge distinctive scientific achievement and innovation by U.S.-based researchers aged 42 and youthful. The announcement was made final evening at an awards ceremony in New York City.

This 12 months’s Laureates have been chosen from a aggressive pool of 310 nominees representing 161 educational and analysis establishments throughout 42 states. Eighteen Finalists emerged from this nationwide search, and three have been named Laureates by an impartial jury of main scientists. Each Laureate will obtain an unrestricted award of $250,000, the world’s largest unrestricted science prize. 
“We are proud to recognize the 2025 Laureates for their significant contributions to science and their remarkable breakthroughs early in their scientific careers. This award is designed to empower them with the freedom to continue to explore bold ideas, driving scientific innovation forward,” mentioned Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

Kranzusch, the Life Science Laureate, was acknowledged for locating that human innate immunity developed from historic pathways in micro organism, explaining the molecular foundation for a way human cells defend towards infections and most cancers. Kranzusch is researching how human cells detect an infection or most cancers, thus deciding when to set off an immune response—a necessary operate for diagnosing, treating, and stopping illness. Kranzusch has uncovered that key elements of human immunity, together with these focused by vaccines and in most cancers immunotherapy, developed from historic bacterial defenses towards viruses. By reshaping elementary understanding of immune pathways, this work opens new avenues for therapies that harness the physique’s pure defenses towards infections, most cancers, and autoimmune problems.

“The Blavatnik Award is an incredible honor for our lab’s discovery of the origins of human innate immunity,” mentioned Kranzusch. “We are excited to build on this new foundation to define universal rules that control immune signaling across all kingdoms of life.”

“I am immensely proud to celebrate Philip Kranzusch’s recognition by the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, and I’m grateful to the Blavatnik Family Foundation,” mentioned Dr. Benjamin L. Ebert, president and CEO of Dana-Farber. “This honor highlights Philip’s groundbreaking work in immunology, and reflects the spirit of innovation that drives Dana-Farber researchers.”