Shankar Balasubramanian and David Klenerman, courtesy of Nathan Pitt © University of Cambridge
Professors Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Sir David Klenerman have been selected as Clarivate Citation Laureates for 2023.
Laureates are chosen for their high number of citations, based on data from the Web of Science, which accesses the indexed contents of more than 34,000 scientific journals and other source materials.
The selectors focus particularly on papers that have been cited more than 1000 times, considering whether the work is clearly associated with a significant discovery or advance, and taking into account awards garnered as a result of the research.
In this case, Shankar and David have been particularly recognised “for the invention of next-generation DNA sequencing methodology that has revolutionised biological research.”
Shankar says: “This award really reflects on the environment of the Department of Chemistry, which allowed us the scope and freedom to conduct blue skies research into areas that excited our scientific interest.”
“It should be credited to all of the staff, students and postdocs who participated in the research, not least of then postdoctoral researchers Colin Barnes and Mark Osborne, who worked with David and myself on the early research that led to the new Solexa sequencing technology.” [Editor’s note: Colin became the first employee of Solexa and is currently the VP of Intellectual Property at Nuclera. Mark is a Visiting Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Sussex].
David agrees: “We are proud to accept the award, but all of our research relies on successful collaborations with students, postdocs and other researchers.”
Clarivate states: “An exceptionally high citation record is a mark of a researcher’s community-wide influence. Research papers that have been cited more than 2,000 times are rare. It is acknowledgement of their important foundational work, on which they and others are building further research.”
Clarivate named 23 Citation Laureates this year across four categories: Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Physics and Economics.