April 09, 2025
By Emily Cerf
The SETI Institute has honored David Deamer, an emeritus professor of biomolecular engineering, with its Drake Award. This award celebrates remarkable achievements in the realms of astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Deamer was recognized for his pioneering work in astrobiology, specifically his research on membranes and RNA formation in shallow water environments. He was recognized for advancing new theories on the origins and processes of life in the Universe.
The Drake Award is named in honor of the late Frank Drake, UC Santa Cruz professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics and an eminent radio astronomer. Drake was the SETI Institute’s inaugural president of its Board of Directors and the architect of the Drake Equation, which provides a framework for considering various factors that influence the likelihood of finding extraterrestrial life.
“Frank Drake included the origin of life as the fourth of the seven essential components of the Drake equation, abbreviated as fl,” Deamer said. “He knew that without an origin of life, there could be no intelligent life.”
Deamer was recognized alongside John Baross, a professor in oceanography and the astrobiology program at the University of Washington. Baross, a microbiologist, focuses on hydrothermal vents and deep-sea chemistry as the cradle of life and has pioneered research on extremophiles to decipher life’s origins on Earth and beyond.
“The beauty of science is its ability to support different perspectives and alternative conclusions based on different observations and analyses of the natural world around us,” said Bill Diamond, SETI Institute CEO. “Both David and John have done pioneering work developing crucial and yet different contributions to our understanding of the origins of life and what constitutes a habitable environment. We are delighted to be able to honor them both with this year’s Drake Award.”
In addition to his contributions to astrobiology, Deamer researched the foundational science needed to create nanopore sequencing, a revolutionary method for reading DNA and RNA that has led to some of the most significant advances in the field of genomics. Along with collaborators Mark Akeson and Daniel Branton, Deamer discovered that forcing a strand of DNA through a membrane charged with an ionic current enables the reading of genetic code. This research was licensed as patents to Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which led to a suite of long-read sequencing devices that are now used prolifically by scientists and medical practitioners worldwide.
The 2025 Drake Awards will take place on May 20, 2025, at a public event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The SETI Institute will also livestream the event via Zoom for those unable to attend in person. SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond and Dr. Nadia Drake will co-host the event. In addition to the Drake Award, the ceremony will include the presentation of the SETI Forward Award, which encourages future scientists in their pursuit of life in the Universe, and the Carl Sagan Director’s Award, recognizing exceptional contributions to astrobiology, technology, and the exploration of life in the Universe.