Much like humans, microorganisms are not inherently sustainable. However, like humans, they have the capability to become sustainable. When pressed, they can acquire this capability, thus proving to be an invaluable resource in humanity’s effort to create a balanced world. Professor Jack Pronk has dedicated his entire career to studying microorganisms with this precise goal in mind: to enlist their help in achieving greater sustainability. He is receiving the 2024 Novozymes Prize for his efforts in developing sustainable bioprocesses that help reduce waste streams and the carbon footprint.

Plants produce a wealth of drugs and other useful natural products. These compounds are often structurally complex, limited by difficulties in accessing source species and beyond the reach of chemical synthesis. The discovery – by Professor Anne Osbourn – that genes for specialised metabolic pathways are organised like beads on a string in plant genomes has fuelled the findings of novel plant compounds and pathways. At the height of her career, she decided to take a year off to study poetry. Today, poetry and plant research support each other. Anne Osbourn is receiving the 2023 Novozymes Prize for her pioneering work that has opened new opportunities to access chemicals from plants, produce important drugs in higher amounts, and improving plants’ natural defence systems to benefit both people’s health and the sustainability of the planet.