Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers Stephen Baylin, M.D., and Andrew Feinberg, M.D., were awarded the 2022–2023 Harvey Prize in the field of Science and Technology by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Baylin, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Genetics and Epigenetics Program, and Feinberg, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Epigenetics in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences and director of the Division of Molecular Medicine in the Department of Medicine, were honored for their pioneering research in epigenetics — chemical alterations to DNA that can silence or activate genes without mutating the DNA.

Baylin, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research, and Feinberg, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and the King Fahd Professor of Medicine, will receive their awards and deliver guest lectures at the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel, in June 2025.

Peter Jones, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at the Van Andel Institute, was also a recipient of the 2022–2023 prize.

The Harvey Prize is given without regard to nationality, race, religion or sex, and consists of a cash award of $75,000. Twenty-four Harvey Prize winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

The prize, established in 1972, honors the late Leo M. Harvey, a pioneer industrialist. Harvey was the son of a small Lithuanian factory owner, and in 1905, he fled political persecution in Czarist Russia. Two years later, he emigrated to the U.S., and in 1914, started the Harvey Aluminum Co. He invented and held many patents in specialized machinery and equipment. Harvey was devoted to human progress and the establishment of goodwill between Israel and other nations.

Baylin, Feinberg and Jones all helped pioneer the field of epigenetics, which gained widespread acceptance in the early 2000s, largely due to their research. The contributions of Feinberg and Baylin helped make Johns Hopkins Medicine a hub for epigenetic discovery and clinical translation.

In 1983, Feinberg hypothesized that epigenetic changes drive abnormal differentiation in cancer. He discovered that altered DNA methylation patterns were routinely found in human cancers. Feinberg also showed that these epigenetic changes occurred at the early stages of tumorigenesis and in the normal tissues of patients with predispositions to cancer. He also showed that congenital epigenetic changes are causally associated with childhood cancer, leading to the first epigenetic test for cancer risk, and that cancer metastasis is driven epigenetically without additional mutations.

Baylin’s research helped inform key areas of cancer biology, and particularly the abnormal epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes in cancer by a process known as hypermethylation. He and Jones showed that blocking hypermethylation can reverse the silencing of these tumor suppressor genes and led to the use of FDA-approved drugs to treat hematologic cancers. This kind of epigenetic therapy also shows promise for the treatment of other major forms of cancer. In addition, Baylin found that reactivating tumor suppressor genes with drugs that reverse hypermethylation also reignites silenced copies of viruses in human DNA and induces viral mimicry. This process can attract immune cells to tumors, activate immune signaling, and potentially improve responses to immune therapy.  

“It is exciting to be on the front lines of advances in epigenetics, and I am profoundly grateful, first, to the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology for considering me worthy of the prestigious Harvey Award, and second, to so many colleagues, students, postdoctoral trainees and mentored young faculty members who I have been fortunate to work with over so many years. None of my contributions would be possible without them. Thirdly, I am grateful for my many collaborations and interactions with co-recipient Peter Jones and his many contributions. It is an honor to be included for this award with him and my other esteemed Johns Hopkins colleague, Dr. Feinberg,” says Baylin. “Each of us has worked so diligently to move this research forward, and we are dedicated to continuing to dig deeper and advance the understanding still further.”

Feinberg feels equally honored to share the award with Baylin, “It’s so exciting to be recognized for this work, especially with Steve and Peter, as we all worked in the wilderness for years before other scientists believed us that DNA methylation was as important as mutation in cancer. I am humbled by the recognition of the Technion and the committee for this honor, and I have been blessed with students and fellows who have taught me at least as much as I have taught them. It is a privilege to be able to work with them and my colleagues to do everything we can to thwart the ravages of cancer,” he says.