{"id":86271,"date":"2026-11-11T12:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?post_type=awards&#038;p=86271"},"modified":"2026-11-11T12:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:01:15","slug":"ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize","status":"publish","type":"awards","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/awards-honours\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize","title":{"rendered":"Ewan Birney awarded \u2018Lombardy is Research\u2019 prize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ewan Birney, the Director of EMBL\u2019s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), has been awarded the 2026 International \u2018Lombardy is Research\u2019 prize for his contributions to predictive medicine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In particular, the award recognises Birney\u2019s contribution to applying artificial intelligence to epidemiology. He was one of the senior authors of the scientific paper introducing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/about\/news\/research-highlights\/ai-model-forecasts-disease-risk-decades-in-advance\/\">DELPHI<\/a>, the first large-scale AI model designed that can estimate the long-term risk of over 1,000 diseases and forecast human health changes over a decade in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The award, established by the Lombardy Region in Italy, acknowledges scientists of any nationality who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of life sciences. It consists of \u20ac1 million, of which 30% is awarded to the winning scientist, while 70% is allocated to support a translational research project associated with the application, to be carried out in collaboration with one or more public or private research institutions in Lombardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prize funds will enable the development of a collaboration with Andrea Ganna at Human Technopole, and Gualtiero Colombo at the Monzino Cardiology Centre in Milan, to explore how AI can support cardiovascular research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cReceiving this prize is a special moment and I am deeply grateful,\u201d said Birney. \u201cTranslating research and technology into better healthcare is a team effort that brings together researchers, clinicians, patients and many others. I look forward to working with colleagues in the Lombardy region to explore how we can realise AI\u2019s potential, with a particular focus on cardiovascular diseases, which affect so many people. I hope this collaboration will further deepen the longstanding and valued ties between EMBL and Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProfessor Birney is an outstanding scientist and truly deserves this prestigious recognition,\u201d said Andrea Ganna, Senior Group Leader at Human Technopole and Associate Professor at the University of Helsinki. \u201cI\u2019m delighted to continue working with him and Professor Colombo on AI foundation models for healthcare, with the ambition of positioning Lombardy at the forefront of this rapidly evolving field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProfessor Birney is a world-leading scientist specialising in genomics, bioinformatics, AI and the life sciences,\u201d said Gualtiero Colombo, Head of the Immunology and Functional Genomics Lab at the Monzino Cardiology Centre. \u201cHe fully deserves this prestigious award. As a clinician and researcher, I feel honoured and excited to be working alongside him and Professor Ganna on the application of large-scale AI models to healthcare and biomedical data. These cutting-edge tools have the potential to make unprecedented contributions to the advancement of predictive medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"vf-figure wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"614\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Lombardy-Prize-1024x614.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Lombardy-Prize-1024x614.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Lombardy-Prize-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Lombardy-Prize-767x460.png 767w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Ewan Birney, EMBL-EBI\u2019s Director, being interviewed by Regione Lombardia in the hall of Teatro alla Scala, Milan (top left); meeting with the press in the theatre\u2019s main foyer (bottom left); and with his local collaborators, Andrea Ganna at Human Technopole (left) and Gualtiero Colombo at Monzino Cardiology Centre (middle, right photo). Credit: Rossana De Lorenzi\/EMBL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The award will support the development of new translational research projects in collaboration with partners in the Lombardy region of Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":86267,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","tags":[4718,149,28,368,36,1349],"award-type":[17599],"award-unit":[17621],"award-site":[17613],"class_list":["post-86271","awards","type-awards","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-award","tag-bioinformatics","tag-birney","tag-embl-ebi","tag-healthcare","award-type-award","award-unit-directors-research","award-site-embl-ebi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ewan Birney awarded \u2018Lombardy is Research\u2019 prize | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The award will support the development of new translational research projects in collaboration with partners in the Lombardy region of Italy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/awards-honours\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ewan Birney awarded \u2018Lombardy is Research\u2019 prize | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The award will support the development of new translational research projects in collaboration with partners in the Lombardy region of Italy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/awards-honours\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-11T11:01:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1000x600.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ewan Birney awarded \u2018Lombardy is Research\u2019 prize | EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/1000x600.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-11T11:01:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-11T11:01:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"The award will support the development of new translational research projects in collaboration with partners in the Lombardy region of Italy\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/awards-honours\\\/ewan-birney-awarded-lombardy-is-research-prize\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/1000x600.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.embl.org\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/1000x600.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"EMBL-EBI's Director Ewan Birney. 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