(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Golden Goose Award, which celebrates federally funded research that sounds silly, but ultimately benefits society, has selected five researchers across the fields of biology, agriculture and genomics for their unexpected breakthroughs as 2023 awardees. On September 27, 2023, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, will co-host the 12th annual Golden Goose Award ceremony with the Association of American Universities, a founding member of the Golden Goose Award, at the Library of Congress to celebrate the awardees’ achievements.
Thanks to funding from federal agencies, these five scientists were able to take research risks or pursue wonky research, yielding unexpected discoveries that benefit humanity. As Congress is considering cutting research and development funding in the 2024 budget, these scientific achievements serve as a reminder that this funding is a cornerstone for how discoveries are made, while keeping the nation competitive, broadening the U.S. research portfolio and fostering collaboration across sectors.
For this year’s awardees, their scientific quests unfolded in unique ways:
Reviving a dormant idea that has dramatically advanced DNA sequencing.
Awardees: Mark Akeson (UC Santa Cruz), Daniel Branton (Harvard University), and David Deamer (UC Santa Cruz)
A scientist conceived of an approach to DNA sequencing that later catalyzed the technology industry to create a commercialized and cost-effective pocket-sized device, enabling analyses in any setting with several potentially life-saving applications. The original idea for nanopore sequencing struck David Deamer while he was driving along a forested road in Oregon in 1989. He immediately pulled to the side of the road and scribbled down a concept, which quickly became just another set of notes stored in a dusty desk drawer. As genomics research expanded, Deamer dug up those field notes after a conversation with Daniel Branton and later teamed up with Mark Akeson to successfully pull a single strand of DNA through a channel to read its genetic sequence, a technique known as nanopore sequencing, which served as the foundation for the widely used device.
Despite the rejection from top-tier journals and the scientific community’s skepticism, the road to success took 30 years of research, persistence and a bit of serendipitous fortune to prove many wrong. In 2014, nanopore sequencing was commercialized into a $1,000 pocket-sized device and is widely used for pathogen analysis in outbreak surveillance of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, Ebola, Zika and COVID-19. It has been used virtually anywhere, including the top of an arctic iceberg, a remote settlement in Africa where electrical power is unreliable, and on board the International Space Station.
Using millions of years-old bacteria to genetically modify plants resistant to pests.
Awardee: Mary-Dell Chilton (Syngenta)
In the 1970s, scientists were trying to uncover whether bacteria's ability to repair their own DNA could also hijack plant growth — a survival strategy which, while savvy, threatened agricultural crops. Determined to find the answer, Mary-Dell Chilton analyzed data at her kitchen table after her kids had gone to bed. To her surprise, she discovered that bacteria could transfer their DNA into plants. The technique she eventually developed based on the bacteria’s natural abilities, known as Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (AMT), is now widely adopted by U.S. corn, soybean and cotton farmers.
Cotton with pest-resistant traits has contributed to a massive decrease in insecticides applied (66% between 1994-2019), which decreases costs and environmental impacts while increasing crop yields and profits. Today, AMT is still used to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 components into plants and is ubiquitous in biotechnology research.
A 65-year-old experiment helped inform what we know about chickens today.
Awardee: Paul Siegel (Virginia Tech)
Imagine a single science experiment – run by a single scientist – for 65 years and counting. Paul Siegel’s curiosity about how to best breed and raise chickens ignited from his time raising chickens from the age of three on a 35-acre farm. Nearly daily, Siegel, now 90, still visits the Virginia Tech lab where he began his seminal work in 1957. That’s when Siegel began breeding two pedigree lines of chickens, one high-weight and one low-weight. Those lines continue today, along with another longtime set of lines related to immunity, yielding discoveries about immune function, reproductive biology, genomic evolution and more.
This work is well known to poultry scientists throughout the world and serves as a foundation for modern methods of raising and breeding chickens, a major global food source. The impact of Siegel’s work on humans, rather than chickens, is perhaps his most profound contribution: He has trained and mentored hundreds of students throughout his distinguished career.
“The Golden Goose Award reinforces the importance of investing in basic research across disciplines to propel innovation and improve lives,” said Sudip S. Parikh, chief executive officer at AAAS and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. “We can trace thousands of patents, like the DNA sequencing device, which stemmed from federal investments in research and development.”
Former U.S. Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) conceived of the award as a counterpoint to criticisms that basic research is a waste of federal spending, leading to a coalition of business, university and scientific organizations establishing the award in 2012. Thanks to his legacy, the award will continue to elevate the importance of recognizing basic science that ultimately improves people’s quality of life.
The Golden Goose Award is grateful for the support of sponsors, including Wiley, a global knowledge company and a leader in research, publishing, and knowledge solutions.
# # #
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine; Science Signaling; a digital, open-access journal, Science Advances; Science Immunology; and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more. For additional information about AAAS, visit www.aaas.org.
END
Two UC Santa Cruz researchers were honored on September 27 at the Library of Congress for the invention of nanopore sequencing, which became a new and revolutionary method to read DNA and RNA.
David Deamer and Mark Akeson, both emeritus professors of biomolecular engineering at the Baskin School of Engineering, received the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Golden Goose Award for the invention. Their colleague and friend Daniel Branton, a Havard biologist and co-inventor of the technology, was also honored.
The Golden Goose award is given to scientists whose federally-funded research ...
Research Highlights:
In a new study, etripamil, a rapid- and short-acting investigational medication formulated to be delivered via nasal spray, restored a normal heart rhythm in less than 30 minutes in most users with intermittent rapid heartbeats, sparing them a trip to the emergency room to receive intravenous medication.
Participants were able to detect when they were experiencing tachycardia (heart rate over 100 beats/minute) and use the medication appropriately and safely.
The self-administered treatment may help the approximately 1 in 300 adults in the U.S. ...
Patterns of chemical interactions are thought to create patterns in nature such as stripes and spots. This new study shows that the mathematical basis of these patterns also governs how sperm tail moves.
The findings, published today in Nature Communications, reveal that flagella movement of, for example, sperm tails and cilia, follow the same template for pattern formation that was discovered by the famous mathematician Alan Turing.
Flagellar undulations make stripe patterns in space-time, generating waves that travel along the tail to drive the sperm and microbes forward.
Alan Turing is most well-known for helping ...
In a new study, the conventional understanding of soil liquefaction is being challenged, significantly reshaping our comprehension of earthquake-related soil deformation. Traditionally, soil liquefaction has been linked to undrained conditions near earthquake epicenters, but this research reveals that liquefaction can take place under drained conditions, even at considerably lower seismic-energy density levels. This discovery sheds new light on far-field liquefaction events that have long perplexed scientists. The study highlights how seismic shaking, even in drained conditions, triggers interstitial fluid flow within the soil, leading ...
A Koine Greek inscription paraphrasing Psalms 86 was discovered by Hebrew University archaeologists at the site of Hyrcania Fortress in the Judean Desert. Adorned with a cross, the Byzantine-era inscription was likely made by a knowledgeable monk and holds significance as a well-known prayer in the Masoretic text and Christian liturgy. Analysis of the script's style suggests a dating no later than the first half of the 6th century CE, the height of the Byzantine era, with minor grammatical errors revealing the scribe’s ...
The global citrus export industry based in South Africa is a surprising outlier in many ways, not least for its vigorous growth. Somehow, the diverse industry has emerged as the second biggest in the world after Spain.
Researchers Ms Shingie Chisoro and Prof Simon Roberts unpack the key factors driving this exceptional success in a study published in The European Journal of Development Research.
Chisoro is a PhD candidate and Roberts the Lead Researcher at the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED), within the College of Business & Economics at the University of Johannesburg.
Resilient ...
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 27, 2023)—Michael Jackson may have sung “it don’t matter if you’re black or white,” but when it comes to prescribing hormone therapy, it appears that race may definitely matter. That is according to a new study that found even though Black patients have more menopause symptoms, they receive less treatment. Study results will be presented during the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Philadelphia September 27-30.
Women experience menopause differently with no two women having the exact same symptoms. Prior research has confirmed that ...
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 27, 2023)—Unwanted weight gain is a common problem associated with the menopause transition. Not only does it harm a woman’s self-esteem, but it is also associated with the development of heart disease, cancer, and declines in cognition and mental health. Tips for managing weight during midlife will be provided as part of a presentation at the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Philadelphia September 27-30.
Weight gain in midlife women is the result of changes related to aging, menopause, and lifestyle. As women age, they are likely to expend less energy because of a reduction in physical activity and a decrease in lean mass. As a double whammy, ...
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 27, 2023)—It seems counter-intuitive for women to experience hot flashes in cold temperatures but, thanks to declining estrogen levels that cause narrowing of the thermoneutral zone, changes in body core temperature can induce sweating responses in any weather. According to a new study, brown adipose tissue activity may be a key reason why. Study results will be presented during the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Philadelphia, September 27-30.
“How can I be hot and cold at the same time?” It’s a common question asked by perimenopausal ...
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 27, 2023)—Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the gold standard for assessing bone mass and evaluating fracture risk. But new technologies shed light on knowledge gaps not filled by DXA alone and sometimes suggest the need for additional procedures to accurately assess bone health. A presentation at the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Philadelphia September 27-30 will focus on the evolution of technology to better diagnose bone fragility.
The discussion of bone health is especially relevant for postmenopausal women who are more vulnerable to osteoporosis and osteopenia because of declining estrogen levels that occur ...
