WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Golden Goose Award, which spotlights obscure, silly sounding or odd fundamental discovery research that has led to outsized societal benefits, has announced awardees for the 14th annual season:
- Testicular Cancer Treatment: Researchers explored electric fields affecting cell division in E. coli bacteria that inadvertently led to the drug cisplatin, which has resulted in a 90% survival rate (up from 10%) for patients with testicular cancer — largely giving affected men aged 15-35 a new lease on life.
- Disease Diagnostics: The “father of modern cell biology” who studied nature’s oddities (e.g., pond scum and frog egg cells) informed disease diagnostics and mentored award-winning scientists, including a Nobel Prize winner.
Former U.S. Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) inspired the creation of this award as a strong counterpoint to criticisms that fundamental discovery research was wasteful federal spending. Almost a decade and a half later, these awardees exemplify what is at stake as the U.S. administration’s budget request seeks to cut this type of research by about one third. Congress has until September 30 to determine fiscal year 2026 funding levels for research and development amid disruptions to funding disbursements for the current fiscal year.
“The Golden Goose awardees definitively demonstrate that federally funded American science continues to deliver for all of us. These discoveries show that American science is anything but stagnant. AAAS and the American people will continue to support federal investment in research that can make us healthier, safer, and stronger,” said Sudip S. Parikh, chief executive officer at AAAS and executive publisher of the Science family of journals.
This year, U.S. Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA) joins the bipartisan, bicameral “Gaggle of Supporters” on Capitol Hill.
On September 16, 2025, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific societies, and the Association of American Universities will co-host the Golden Goose Award Ceremony at the Library of Congress.
This year’s awardees are:
Cisplatin Breakthrough Redefines Testicular Cancer Treatment
Awardees: Barnett Rosenberg, Loretta VanCamp, and Thomas Krigas
Research funded by: National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation
Barnett “Barney” Rosenberg wasn’t a cancer researcher — but he and his lab team helped unlock a breakthrough cancer treatment. In the 1960s, Rosenberg, working with lab technician Loretta VanCamp and a team of graduate students including Thomas Krigas, examined how electric fields affect cell division in E. coli bacteria. To their surprise, the bacteria stopped dividing and instead elongated into long, spaghetti-like shapes — a striking, unexplained phenomenon they investigated further. After a couple years of follow-up experiments, they discovered the true cause: platinum compounds released from the electrodes, not the electric field itself. This serendipitous finding led to the development of cisplatin, a platinum-based chemotherapy drug approved in 1978. At the time, the idea of using a metal-containing compound in medicine was unconventional and met with skepticism due to concerns over toxicity to humans. After harmful side effects were mitigated, cisplatin was approved and delivered unprecedented results — most notably, increasing the survival rate for testicular cancer from around 10% to over 90%. Its success transformed cancer treatment and has saved countless lives.
Nature’s Oddities Inform Disease Diagnostics and Inspire Prize-Winning Scientists
Awardee: Joseph G. Gall
Research funded by: National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation
Cell biologist Joseph Gall’s lifelong curiosity about the planet’s array of life forms instilled in him a flair for coming up with the perfect organisms to conduct biological experiments. Among his many accomplishments: Working with frog egg cells (oocytes), he co-developed a technique called “in situ hybridization,” which has since been widely used in scientific research and disease diagnostics. In another set of experiments, Gall’s suggestion of Tetrahymena, a single-celled “pond scum” organism, as a model paved the way for landmark discoveries involving stretches of DNA called telomeres, which have enhanced our understanding of aging. Beyond the knack for nature’s oddities that helped guide his and his colleagues’ scientific research, Gall was renowned as a mentor, particularly for women scientists at a time when it wasn’t the norm, and several highly accomplished, prize-winning scientists have come through his lab.
The Golden Goose Award is grateful for the support of sponsors, including Wiley, a global knowledge company and a leader in research, publishing, and knowledge solutions.