New York – October 07, 2026 -- Three early-career scientists each received $250,000 unrestricted prizes at the 2026 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, the largest such award available to researchers under 42 in the United States.
Three laureates emerge from a pool of 372 nominees across 43 states
The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences selected the winners from 372 nominees representing 187 academic and research institutions. An independent jury also named 15 Finalists, each receiving $15,000 in unrestricted funding, plus nine Blavatnik Regional Awards honorees.
David Nagib of Ohio State wins for radical-based organic synthesis methods
Chemical Sciences Laureate David Nagib, of The Ohio State University, developed methods using reactive radicals and carbenes to activate inert portions of complex molecules, aiming to speed pharmaceutical discovery by making medicinal building blocks faster and more efficiently.
Patrick Hsu of Arc Institute wins for expanding CRISPR and AI-driven genome tools
Life Sciences Laureate Patrick Hsu, a co-founder of the Arc Institute and researcher at Stanford University, expanded the CRISPR toolkit with RNA-targeting enzymes, identified programmable bridge RNAs capable of large-scale genome rewriting, and built AI models that predict and design biological sequences.
Jonathan Rivnay of Northwestern wins for implantable bioelectronic 'living pharmacies'
Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate Jonathan Rivnay, of Northwestern University, helped pioneer implantable devices that house engineered cells capable of producing and releasing medicines inside the body, targeting personalized treatments for cancer, diabetes and circadian rhythm disorders.
Ohio State and Arc Institute claim their first-ever Blavatnik National Award Laureates
The 2026 cohort marked a first for two institutions, with both The Ohio State University and the Arc Institute securing their inaugural Blavatnik National Award Laureate.
Ceremony at American Museum of Natural History marks 20th anniversary of the prize
The Laureates were announced October 6 at a black-tie gala hosted by Len and Emily Blavatnik at the American Museum of Natural History, presented by Robert P. Lifton, MD, PhD, President of The Rockefeller University.
Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, said the foundation was "extremely proud to recognize this year's National Laureates and to welcome them into the Blavatnik Awards community."
Prior laureates from the program's first cohort have since joined national academies
Lifton noted that of the inaugural 14 honorees from 20 years ago, eight now hold named or endowed chairs at Yale, Rockefeller, Cornell, Columbia and Cambridge, five have been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, two to the National Academy of Medicine, six to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and one to the Royal Society of the UK. Several have since won the Shaw Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Medal and the Fields Medal.
Program has distributed $21.5 million since 2007, spawning 52 companies worth $40 billion
Since its founding in 2007, the Blavatnik Awards have honored 539 scientists and distributed $21.5 million in unrestricted funding. Honorees have gone on to found 52 companies, six of which are publicly traded, with a collective valuation exceeding $40 billion.