CRG RESEARCHER BEN LEHNER AWARDED THE 2010 FEBS ANNIVERSARY PRIZE

Ben Lehner, group leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), has been awarded the 2010 Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Anniversary Prize. The prize was awarded at the 35th FEBS Congress in Göteborg, Sweden.

The FEBS Anniversary Prize recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology by a scientist under the age of 40. The prize is awarded each year by FEBS and the Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie (GBM).

Ben Lehner leads the Genetic Systems laboratory in the EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Unit, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). His research focuses on understanding the principles and evolution of genetic systems. The lab uses experiments in model organisms (worms, yeast) and computational analysis of large-scale datasets to dissect gene interactions and regulation as a basis for understanding how mutations cause phenotypic change and disease. Recent work from the lab has shown how integrated networks can be used to globally predict the effects of mutations, how mutations combine to cause phenotypic change, and when excess production of a gene is harmful. The group also studies the consequences and importance of noise and redundancy in genetics.