The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has announced that Xiaodong Wang, its investigator at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has been awarded the $1 million Shaw Prize in life science and medicine.

Wang will receive the award from the Hong Kong-based Shaw Prize Foundation for his discovery of the biochemical basis of programmed cell death, which, according to the award citation, is "a vital process that balances cell birth and defends against cancer." The malfunction of cell-death genes is a hallmark of many diseases, and Wang's research may lead to new treatments for cancer, neurological disorders, and other diseases.

The international Shaw Prize, which honors individuals for breakthroughs in academic and scientific research, or who have made outstanding contributions in the arts and culture or achieved excellence in other domains, is dedicated to furthering societal progress, enhancing quality of life, and enriching humanity's spiritual civilization. Wang and the other award winners, three in astronomy and two in mathematical sciences, will be officially honored at a ceremony in Hong Kong in September.

"This is an extraordinary, distinguished prize," said Dr. Steven McKnight, chairman of biochemistry at UT Southwestern. "Xiaodong Wang is a genuine scientific pioneer who has used hard-core biochemistry to resolve the pathway controlling programmed cell death, a process that is liberally relevant to human disease, especially cancer."