On May 27, the Shaw Prize Foundation announced the list of 2025 Shaw Laureates in Hong Kong. Wolfgang Baumeister, director of the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility and distinguished adjunct professor at the iHuman Institute of ShanghaiTech University, and emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, was awarded the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine 2025 for his pioneering development and application of cryo-electron tomography.
Baumeister is a distinguished leader in electron microscopy, renowned internationally for his work in cryo-electron tomography. His research focuses on molecular machines within their native cellular environments, leading his team to develop cutting-edge techniques with transformative applications in biology and medicine. This revolutionary advancement has enabled unprecedented insights into cellular contexts, providing critical structural foundations for understanding macromolecular interactions and signaling pathways at the molecular level in situ.
“Baumeister’s cryo-electron tomography is a groundbreaking three-dimensional visualization technique that enables in situ studies of biological components within intact cells,” commented Bonnie Bassler, chair of the Selection Committee of the Shaw Prize for Life Science and Medicine. “By freezing samples in a very short time to preserve their native state and capturing continuous images as the samples are rotated, this technology obtains the samples’ 3D structures images in a near-atomic resolution. It has fundamentally transformed the paradigm of in situ cellular structural research, offering a revolutionary tool for understanding life’s mechanisms and disease processes.”
Beyond technical innovation, Baumeister and his team achieved two pivotal advancements: First, they revealed the intricate structure of the 26S proteasome complex within intact cells, providing deep insights into the operational mechanisms of molecular machines; Second, by visualizing the interactions between viruses and host cells, they elucidated viral infection mechanisms, offering direct structural biology evidence for antiviral drug development.
Baumeister joined ShanghaiTech in 2019. He established a high-caliber research team, leveraging advanced technologies to conduct in-depth studies on the in situ structural characterization of insulin secretory granules in pancreatic β-cells and complexes related to pathogenic RNA virus infections. These studies have provided preliminary results.
Established in 2002 and administered by the Shaw Prize Foundation, the Shaw Prize comprises three categories: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences. Awarded annually since 2004, the prize honors scientists who have made breakthrough achievements in research or applications that would profoundly impact human life.