Akira Endo, a 74-year-old Japanese of Biopharm Research Laboratories in Tokyo, won the clinical research award for discovering the first of the statins, the drugs used to lower cholesterol levels in people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease.

"Endo ushered in a new era in preventing and treating" coronary heart disease, according to the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. "His work has touched millions of people."

Stanley Falkow, an American microbiologist and a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, was honored for significantly expanding knowledge of how bacteria cause infections and diseases. Falklow is considered the father of molecular microbial pathogenesis.

A third award was given to Ambros, 54, Ruvkun, 56, and Baulcombe, 56, for discovering ribonucleic acid or RNA molecules, several of which are named microRNAs. Their finding helped scientists understand in a different and better way how genes in animals and plants are regulated.

Victor Ambros, PhD, is with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. David Baulcombe, PhD, FRS, is with the University of Cambridge in Britain and Gary Ruvkun is with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Reuters reported.

Starting 1946, The Lasker Awards are offered once every two years. They have always been presented by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which is dedicated to the support of biomedical research toward overcoming diseases, enhancing human health and expanding life, the foundation wrote on its Web site.