The Technion will award the prestigious Harvey Prize to two American scientists who have made groundbreaking advances in nanotechnology and medicine

The Technion will award the Harvey Prize in Science and Technology to Prof. David R. Liu from Harvard University and Prof. Chad A. Mirkin from Northwestern University. This is the most prestigious prize awarded by the Technion, granted this year for exceptional achievements in technology and human health and for significant contributions to humanity. Over the years, the prize has become known as a “Nobel predictor,” as more than 30% of its laureates have later received the Nobel Prize. The two will receive the awards as part of the Technion Board of Governors events in June 2026.

Prof. David R. Liu, from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, will receive the prize in recognition of his pioneering work developing base editing and prime editing, two genome editing techniques now used to treat genetic diseases in human patients. Prof. Liu and his team created innovative technologies that allow scientists to edit DNA without cutting the double helix, significantly increasing the capabilities, precision, and safety of genetic therapies. Through his research, Liu has demonstrated remarkable talent in choosing key problems, providing timely solutions, and advancing treatments for patients.

Liu’s work has also been recognized by the Breakthrough Prize, the Franklin Institute Bower Award, the Montrone-Seigel Prize, the King Faisal Prize, and the Gabbay Award. He has co-founded several companies based on his research including Beam Therapeutics and Prime Medicine, and at least 23 clinical trials are already applying his discoveries to treat severe genetic diseases.

Prof. Chad A. Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the Rathmann Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, will receive the Harvey Prize for his pioneering research that has reshaped nanoscience, nanotechnology, and nanomedicine. Mirkin invented and developed spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), globular forms of DNA and RNA made from short snippets of linear structures arranged around a nanoparticle core. They possess unique chemical and biological properties distinct from those of the same sequences of linear nucleic acids. This discovery forms a basis for the emerging field of structural nanomedicine, which emphasizes the importance of structure, in addition to composition, in dictating a nanoscale drug’s potency and safety. SNAs underpin advances in extracellular and intracellular diagnostics, gene regulation and editing, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and vaccine development. Seven SNA-based treatments are in human clinical trials, and SNAs are the basis for over 1,800 commercial products.

A serial entrepreneur, Prof. Mirkin holds more than 1,420 patents with 457 issued worldwide, and he has founded 11 companies. He served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology for eight years, has authored over 930 papers and given more than 1,000 invited lectures, and mentored more than 350 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan congratulated the laureates, saying:
“The groundbreaking work of Prof. David Liu and Prof. Chad Mirkin is a model of bridging science and application – the kind of bridges we strive to build at the Technion and between the Technion and the worlds of industry and medicine. Their scientific breakthroughs are already being translated into treatments for genetic diseases, new approaches in immunotherapy, and advanced diagnostic systems, demonstrating how innovation in nanotechnology and synthetic biology creates tangible hope for humanity.”