David Liu Awarded Breakthrough Prize

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator David R. Liu was awarded the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for developing two gene-editing technologies – known as base editing and prime editing – which enable the correction or replacement of virtually any genetic mutation, including those that cause countless human genetic diseases. “David Liu’s advances in gene editing represent fundamental, curiosity-driven research at its best,” says HHMI President Erin O’Shea. “All of us at HHMI congratulate him on this honor and look forward with great anticipation to what he will accomplish next." In 2016, Liu’s lab at the Broad Institute developed base editing, a technique that allows scientists to correct single-letter mutations in DNA – the kind of tiny genetic “misspellings” that underlie thousands of human diseases. Whereas some genome-editing tools like CRISPR/Cas9 function as scissors that cut both strands of DNA and rely on the cell’s own molecular machinery to fill in the gap with the desired DNA sequence, Liu says base editors are like pencils that enable scientists to rewrite individual chemical units of DNA known as bases. Just three years after developing base editing, Liu and his lab invented prime editing. While scientists can use base editors to make certain DNA letter “swaps,” prime editors enable them to carry out every possible kind of DNA letter change in mammalian cells, in addition to inserting or deleting genomic text. Likening prime editors to molecular word processors, Liu once described this technology as enabling a “search and replace”: scientists can locate the stretch of DNA they wish to target and trade old letters for new ones of their choosing. “David Liu’s pioneering work in base and prime editing has transformed genome editing, creating new approaches for treating genetic diseases while revolutionizing the fields of biomedicine and agriculture,” says HHMI Chief Scientific Officer Leslie Vosshall. "The profound reach of his work will shape science for generations to come.” The impact of Liu’s gene-editing platforms has already been felt far beyond his lab. Research teams around the world have tapped these technologies to make advances in human health. Currently, there are at least 15 base editing and prime editing clinical trials in five countries, with beneficial results already confirmed in patients for the treatment of T-cell leukemia, sickle cell disease, and others. Liu was honored along with eight Prize laureates in the Life Sciences category at the Breakthrough Prize award ceremony at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California on April 5, 2025. Renowned actresses Jodie Foster and Lily Collins presented David Liu’s prize, along with surprise guest Alyssa Tapley – the first person to undergo cancer treatment using base editing technology. In 2021, Tapley became sick with an aggressive form of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After undergoing multiple rounds of standard treatment options, Tapley, then 13, was told that the cancer was incurable. But, Tapley’s doctors saw that Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in the United Kingdom had taken on a base editing clinical trial. At GOSH, researchers used base editing to engineer donor T-cells to attack Tapley’s cancer. Now, two and a half years later, Tapley credits Liu and her care team with her survival. “I’m 16, preparing for my exams, spending time with my family, arguing with my brother, and doing all the things I thought that I would never be able to do,” she said before presenting Liu with his Breakthrough Prize. “But most importantly, I have a future, and tonight I get to join you all to celebrate the man whose work saved my life.” For the 13th year, the Breakthrough Prize celebrates the research achievements of the world’s top scientists. Each Breakthrough Prize is $3 million and presented in the fields of Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics. To reinforce the cultural importance of their scientific achievements, winners are honored at a gala awards ceremony attended by celebrated leaders in business, technology, and entertainment, earning it the nickname the “Oscars of Scienceexternal link, opens in a new tab.” Liu joins a distinguished group of HHMI Investigators who have won Breakthrough Prizes in previous years. Most recently, Clifford P. Brangwynne, an HHMI Investigator at Princeton University, received the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2023. HHMI Investigator and 2024 Nobel Prize laureate David Baker, who won the Breakthrough Prize in 2021, was also honored during the gala. HHMI Investigator Huda Zoghbi, a 2017 Breakthrough Prize laureate, was also in attendance. The 2025 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony will premiere on Breakthrough’s YouTube pageexternal link, opens in a new tab on Saturday, April 12, at 3:00 p.m. ET. ###