Press releasePublished on 22 September 2026

The Swiss Marcel Benoist and Latsis Science Prizes have been awarded to a biochemist and a mathematician

Berne, 22.09.2026 — Biochemist Martin Jinek has been awarded the prestigious Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize for his groundbreaking insights into cellular processes that paved the way for the breakthrough in genome editing. The Latsis Swiss Science Prize goes to mathematician Susanna Zimmermann for her pioneering research on the symmetries of geometric spaces, which enabled her to resolve a question in algebraic geometry that had remained open since the 19th century.

With an endowment of CHF 250,000, the Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize is regarded as the ‘Swiss Nobel Prize’. This year’s laureate, Martin Jinek, is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Zurich. He is being honoured for his outstanding research on RNA-controlled molecular systems capable of specifically targeting cellular genetic material, as well as their application in genome editing. Together with other researchers, Martin Jinek played a key role in further developing the natural CRISPR-Cas9 system into a programmable tool for the targeted modification of DNA. This led to the CRISPR-Cas9 technology for genome editing – also known as ‘genetic scissors’ – which earned Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Through his research, Martin Jinek deepens our understanding of molecular biological processes and opens up new approaches in a wide variety of fields, such as biomedicine (gene therapy), biotechnology and innovative agriculture.

Latsis Swiss Science Prize goes to outstanding mathematician

Mathematician Susanna Zimmermann is a professor at the University of Basel and conducts research in the field of algebraic geometry. In particular, she studies the symmetries of geometric spaces and their internal mathematical structure. Together with Jérémy Blanc and Stéphane Lamy, she achieved a significant breakthrough: With regard to what are known as the Cremona groups, the researchers were able to resolve a question that had remained open since the 19th century and demonstrate that these groups possess a rich internal structure. Susanna Zimmermann’s research contributes to a better understanding of the fundamental properties of mathematical spaces and opens up new connections between various fields of mathematics. Susanna Zimmermann is now to receive the Latsis Swiss Science Prize which is is awarded to young researchers with an academic age of up to ten years and is endowed with CHF 100,000.

Awards ceremony at the Federal Palace

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) selected the laureates on behalf of the Marcel Benoist Foundation and the Latsis Foundation. The joint award ceremony for the Swiss Science Prizes will take place on 5 November at the Federal Palace. The chairpersons of the respective foundations will present the awards in the presence of President of the Swiss Confederation Guy Parmelin and President of the Council of States Stefan Engler.

Images and additional information

Photos of the laureates are available for download at the following link: https://marcel-benoist.ch/wissenschaftspreise-2026/download

Photographer: Daniel Rihs

Profiles of the laureates and their research:

https://marcel-benoist.ch/en/laureate-2026 (Martin Jinek)

https://snf.ch/en/latsis-prize-2026 (Susanna Zimmermann)

Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize

The 2026 laureate: Martin Jinek

Martin Jinek, born in 1979 in Třinec in what is now the Czech Republic, is a professor of biochemistry and the head of a research group at the University of Zurich. After completing his degree at the University of Cambridge, he earned his PhD at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and subsequently conducted research from 2007 to 2012 as a postdoctoral fellow in Jennifer Doudna’s research group at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013, he was appointed assistant professor at the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Zurich and promoted to full professor in 2024. Martin Jinek has received numerous prestigious awards for his research, including an ERC Starting Grant and Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (in 2013 and 2018 respectively), the Friedrich Miescher Prize (2015) and the Cloëtta Prize for Medical Research (2026). He was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2024.

Further information about the awardee and his research is available at the following link: https://marcel-benoist.ch/en/laureate-2026 https://marcel-benoist.ch/en/laureate-2026

Marcel Benoist Foundation

Since 1920, the Foundation has awarded the prize every year in recognition of outstanding research which is of particular benefit to human life, and so pays tribute to researchers who exemplify the level of excellence of research conducted in Switzerland. Eleven of these laureates have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. Since 2018, the nomination and selection process has been undertaken by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) on behalf of the Marcel Benoist Foundation. The 2026 prize is awarded in the field of life sciences (biology and medicine). For more information, visit: www.marcel-benoist.ch.

Latsis Swiss Science Prize

The 2026 laureate: Susanna Zimmermann

Susanna Zimmermann is a professor of mathematics and head of a research group at the University of Basel. After earning her PhD at the University of Basel, she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Toulouse. In 2017, she became an associate professor at the University of Angers and, in 2022, a professor at the University of Paris-Saclay. In 2025, she was appointed to the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Basel. Susanna Zimmermann has received numerous awards for her research, including the Bronze Medal from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (2020), an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council (2022) and the ICBS Frontiers of Science Award in Mathematics, shared with J. Blanc and S. Lamy (2024).

Further information about the laureate and her research is available at the following link: https://snf.ch/en/latsis-prize-2026

Latsis Foundation

The Latsis Swiss Science Prize has been awarded annually since 1984 by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) on behalf of the Latsis Foundation, which was founded in 1975. The prize honours early-career researchers at Swiss universities with up to ten years of academic experience for outstanding contributions. The laureates are selected through an SNSF selection process. The 2026 prize is awarded in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. For more information, visit: www.fondationlatsis.org.

Contact persons

Marcel Benoist Foundation

Dr Aurélia Robert-Tissot, Executive Secretary

Tel.: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Website: https://marcel-benoist.ch/

Laureate: Prof. Martin Jinek, [e-mail], Tel.: [phone]

Latsis International Foundation

Ms Laure Rougier, Foundation Secretary

Tel.: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Website: https://fondationlatsis.org/

Laureate: Prof. Susanna Zimmermann, [e-mail], [phone]

Swiss National Science Foundation (information on scientific selection)

Communication Division

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Email: [e-mail]