Meet Wiley Prize winner – aged 98
03 Apr 2024
Dr Raymond Schofield awarded this year’s Wiley Prize for Biomedical Sciences, with Judith Kimble and Allan Spradling
Dr Raymond Schofield has been awarded the 22nd annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences with Judith Kimble and Allan Spradling for their discovery of the stem cell niche, a localised environment that controls stem cell identity.
First awarded in 2002, the prize recognises contributions that have opened new fields of research or have advanced concepts in a particular biomedical discipline.
Raymond proposed the concept of a stem cell niche back in 1978. Recognition for this seminal work comes more 45 years later as he approaches his 99th birthday.
The Paterson Laboratories, as they were known then, assembled a pioneering group of notable haematology researchers and the Paterson Institute became part of The University of Manchester in 2006.
Working alongside Ray was Mike Dexter – at the time a postgraduate student – who later became the Director of the Institute and subsequently Director of Wellcome, and Brian Lord, who published over 130 papers and made many scientific breakthroughs in the of field stem cell biology and haematopoiesis. Brian, who sadly passed away in 2021, was the father of the current Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Professor Graham Lord.
Ray worked at the Holt Radium Institute, later renamed the Paterson Laboratories after the first Director, Professor Ralston Paterson, until 1985 when he ‘retired’ to become a farmer in West Wales, where he still lives.
The new Paterson Building is on the same site as the original Paterson Laboratories, next to the Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
“I am thrilled that Drs Schofield, Kimble, and Spradling have been selected to receive the Wiley Prize for their discovery of the stem cell niche,” said Professor Titia de Lange of Rockefeller University and Chair of the Wiley Prize awards jury.
“This niche is a cellular microenvironment that maintains stem cells in their naive state and prevents them from differentiating. Their pioneering discovery, made by studying bone marrow stem cells and stem cells in the reproductive organs of C. elegans and Drosophila, has revealed how stem cells are regulated during human development and tissue maintenance.”
“The Wiley Foundation honours research that not only offers breakthrough solutions to existing problems in biomedical sciences, but also fuels future discoveries,” said Deborah Wiley, Chair of the Wiley Foundation. “The work of the 2024 Wiley Prize recipients truly upholds this mission, laying the foundation for today’s life-changing discoveries in the field of stem cell biology.”
The award will be presented at the Wiley Prize lecture on Friday (5 April), although Ray will not be able to attend given his age.