Harvard Medical School Prof. Stephen J. Elledge has been awarded the Lewis S. Rosensteil Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science, according to an Oct. 17 BrandeisNOW press release.

Elledge's work involves studying eukaryotic cells and damage to DNA.

He is also known for developing research tools to investigate DNA damage, and "his pioneering work laid the foundation for our current understanding of how failures in DNA damage sensing relate to the ... field of genome instability," according to BrandeisNOW.

Elledge said that he was honored to be given the prestigious award.

"Receiving the Rosenstiel Award was a very pleasant surprise as the past winners are a tremendously talented group of scientists and I am proud to be considered to be among them," Elledge wrote in an email to the Justice.

"And, of course, it is a terrific tribute to my grad students and post-docs whose incredible talent and hard work was responsible for the discoveries we made over the years."

The Rosensteil Award, which consists of a $30,000 cash prize and a medal, was founded in 1972 and "has had a distinguished record of identifying and honoring pioneering scientists who subsequently have been honored with the Lasker and Nobel prizes," according to BrandeisNOW.

Elledge is the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and Medicine and a member of the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

He also .has positions at the Brigham and Women's hospital and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Elledge attended the University of Illinois, where he studied biology, and he later earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Elledge will receive his awardaduring a dinner at Brandeis on March 14, 2013.

-Sam Mintz