Dario Alessi at the University of Dundee has been awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Makdougall Brisbane prize - his second medal this year and fifth in a series of awards for this top Dundee scientist.
Dario, Principal Investigator in the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit was selected for the Makdougall Brisbane prize for his discovery of PDK1, the "missing link" in insulin signal transduction.
Founded in 1855 by a former President of the Society, the Makdougall prize is awarded every two years with preference given to a person under the age of 40 working in Scotland. It is only awarded once every six years for research in the Biological Sciences.
Dario will receive a medal and cheque for £250 ( $360) at the Society's research awards reception on 2 July in Edinburgh. The award sees the medal stay at the University of Dundee - Professor Michael Ferguson in the School of Life Sciences received the same award six years ago. Dario was most recently awarded the Young Investigator G.B. Morgagni Prize 2002 for outstanding achievements in the field of metabolism and was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh earlier this year. He leads a research team in understanding insulin regulated signalling pathways in the fight against diabetes.He won the Eppendorf Young European scientist of the year in 2000, and is also one of eight members of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee to win the Colworth medal in 1999 for young scientists under the age of 36.