The Balazs Rooster Prize

In 2003, on the suggestion of Endre A. Balazs, ISHAS established the "Rooster Prize”. It was created to honor scientists for significant contributions to hyaluronan. It was called the Rooster Prize because at that time, extremely pure hyaluronan molecules with very high average molecular weight (>5,000,000) for therapeutic use could be prepared only from rooster combs.

The Rooster Prize has been presented to the following ISHAS members:

2003: Torvard Laurent for his "significant contribution to the therapeutic use of hyaluronan", Presented by Endre A. Balazs.

2007: Paul DeAngelis "to acknowledge his work on the development of synthetic hyaluronan", Presented by Mary Cowman.

2010: Glenn Prestwich "to acknowledge his work on the development of chemically derivatized hyaluronan for therapeutic uses", Presented by Paul DeAngelis.

2013: Tracey Brown "to acknowledge her work using hyaluronan to enhance cancer therapies", Presented by Glenn Prestwich.

2015: Gregory Frost "to acknowledge his work on the development of hyaluronidase for therapeutic applications", Presented by Vincent Hascall.

2017: Raja and Markku Tammi "to acknowledge their novel contributions to understanding the role of hyaluronan in cell physiology and pathology", Presented by Mary Cowman

2019: Thomas Wight “to acknowledge his work on the hyaluronan-binding proteoglycan versican and inflammation”, Presented by Mary Cowman.

2021: Vincent Hascall “to acknowledge his work over more than five decades on the biology of hyaluronan”, Presented by Carol de la Motte.