Muon magnetism feat and Luxturna gene therapy win $3 million Breakthrough Prizes

A precision test of particle physics and a treatment that restores vision have earned $3 million Breakthrough Prizes, with winners announced on April 18. The honorees include hundreds of physicists across more than 30 institutions for a decades-long effort to pin down the muon’s magnetic properties, and a University of Pennsylvania–led team behind Luxturna, the first FDA-approved gene-augmenting therapy.

Researchers at Fermilab, working with collaborators from CERN and Brookhaven National Laboratory, were recognized for measuring the muon’s magnetic moment with unprecedented accuracy. Last year, Fermilab reported its final results, quantifying the particle’s g-factor—its tiny wobble in a magnetic field—to 127 parts per billion.

The findings seemingly confirm the standard model of particle physics, yet the theory is not settled. David Hertzog, a nuclear physicist at Fermilab, said it is not “game over,” noting that two independent methods used to calculate the model’s predictions disagree drastically.

“It is astonishing that human beings can measure anything to such precision,” said Tsutomu Mibe of Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, calling the award well deserved. The physics prize will be shared by several hundred collaborators involved in the experiments.

Hertzog described the win as exhilarating and a validation of the team’s collective effort. In the life sciences, ophthalmologists Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire and physician Katherine High, all at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, were honored for developing Luxturna, which treats an inherited retinal disease caused by two faulty copies of the RPE65 gene.

In healthy vision, a molecule called 11-cis retinal bends when struck by light and quickly straightens; in people with RPE65 mutations, the molecule remains deformed, leading to progressive vision loss. Building on Bennett and Maguire’s early work in dogs, the team conducted a clinical trial that injected a working RPE65 gene into the retinas of children and adults using an adeno-associated virus.

Before treatment, participants struggled with obstacle courses, especially in low light; 30 days after treatment, “they greatly improved their ability to navigate,” High said. She learned of the prize while on a train and said she plans to donate her share to charities and hospitals that work with people living in poverty.

Luxturna has been “transformative for one form of blindness that was untreatable,” said Omar Mahroo, a retinal neuroscientist at University College London, describing it as a paradigm shift that signals hope for future gene therapies targeting other causes of blindness.

Three life-science prizes were awarded for advances in gene therapies. The Breakthrough Prizes are among the most lucrative in science, spotlighting research that pairs exacting experimental achievement with clinical impact.

The physics award underscores how even record-setting measurements leave open questions about the standard model, while the Luxturna recognition highlights the rapid progress of gene-therapy approaches now reaching patients.