Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., was one of three scientists worldwide honored this week at the 2026 BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize for Innovation ceremony in Copenhagen.
The distinction recognizes outstanding research combined with entrepreneurship, with honorees selected for making significant advances toward bringing discoveries to the marketplace.
Sayour, a UF Health pediatric oncologist and MBI investigator, was named as one of two finalists for his work developing personalized and universal mRNA vaccines to wake up the immune system against cancer.
In his prize-winning essay published in Science, Sayour detailed his findings thus far — and what he sees as a path forward to overcome treatment-resistant brain tumors and other cancers.
“For the chameleon that is cancer will not fool us forever,” he wrote, “though it may change its colors, we too are changing ours.”
