logo
welcome
Live Science

Live Science

Scientist who discovered body's 'fire alarm' against invading bacteria wins $250,000 Lasker prize

Live Science
Summary
Nutrition label

76% Informative

Biochemist Zhijian " James" Chen has won one of this year 's Lasker Awards .

Chen led work that led to the discovery of a protein that acts like a fire alarm in the body.

The protein, cyclic GMP -AMP synthase (cGAS) activates in response to DNA of foreign invaders.

cGAS detects DNA floating around in the fluid of a cell, which is usually a sign of infection.

Nicoletta Lanese is the health channel editor at Live Science .

She was previously a news editor and staff writer at the site.

Her work has appeared in The Scientist , Science News , the Mercury News , Mongabay and Stanford Medicine Magazine .

Send us your questions about how the human body works to [email protected].