The world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society honored Brown faculty members from molecular biophysics and biochemistry and evolutionary biology for significant and lasting contributions to their fields.

The Rainwater Charitable Foundation, one of the largest independent funders of neurodegenerative research that enables field-advancing programs, resources, and breakthrough discoveries for primary tauopathies, today announced the 2025 Rainwater Prize recipients. This prize recognizes scientific achievements in the field of neurodegenerative research and offers progress toward new treatments for diseases associated with the accumulation of tau protein in the brain. Kaj Blennow, M.D., Ph.D., University of Gothenburg, will be awarded the 2025 Outstanding Innovation in Neurodegenerative Research Prize of $400,000, and Bess Frost, Ph.D., Brown University, will be awarded the 2025 Rainwater Prize for Innovative Early-Career Scientist of $200,000.

In January, RNA experts from around the world gathered at Brown to roll up their sleeves and get to work on a venture that many of them say will likely be bigger, more expensive, and more daunting than the Human Genome Project.

But the outcome of this effort, known as the Human RNome Project, will also be even more consequential for human health, offering clues to develop vaccines, unlock mysteries behind rare diseases, and discover treatments for some of humanity’s most intractable illnesses, like Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and many cancers.