RNAi Breakthrough Discovery Awarded

(ETH Zurich, June 12, 2013)

The Rössler Prize was given to Olivier Voinnet, Professor of RNA Biology in the Department of Biology, ETH Zurich. The Frenchman, Olivier Voinnet, receives the CHF 200,000 research prize for his breakthrough discoveries in molecular and cell biology. As a PhD student, Olivier Voinnet worked on non-coding RNA molecules and discovered how plants use RNAi (RNA interference) to defend themselves against viral infection. The iRNAs originate from the virus itself, therefore plants can use them for protection against a pathogen in a sequence-specific manner. In 1997, Voinnet was able to demonstrate that RNAi can spread throughout the whole plant producing immunity to viruses which evolved proteins that could suppress RNAi. Voinnet would like to invest the prize money in RNAi's antiviral roles in mammalian cells just as it does in plants or invertebrates