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Mary‑Claire King Receives 2025 Princess of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research

The honor recognizes pioneering work linking genetic discovery to human-rights justice.

Overview

  • King took part in events in Oviedo during the week but was unable to attend Friday’s award ceremony in person due to an indisposition.
  • In talks with students and researchers, she emphasized multidisciplinary collaboration and continual questioning as essential to biomedical progress.
  • She outlined a developing hypothesis that some cancers lacking clear genotype–phenotype correlations may be explained by post‑translational protein modifications.
  • Her landmark contributions include identifying BRCA1, showing humans and chimpanzees share roughly 98–99% of their DNA, and helping devise the high‑probability abuelidad index used by Argentine courts.
  • Her forensic genetics work supported the creation of Argentina’s National Genetic Data Bank in 1987 and has informed identifications in countries such as Rwanda and El Salvador.