Stanford Professor Wins $500,000 Prize for Inventions

Stephen R. Quake, a Stanford University professor described as “one of the world’s most prolific inventors,” has won the 2012 Lemelson-MIT Prize in recognition of his “revolutionary work in drug discovery, genome analysis, and personalized medicine,” according to a news release issued by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Quake, a professor of bioengineering at Stanford and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, holds more than 80 patents and has started four companies. The $500,000 prize honors “an outstanding midcareer inventor who is dedicated to improving our world through technological invention.”