A Japanese scientist who discovered a fungus that fights against cholesterol will be awarded on Sept. 25 in New York. Akira Endo, 74, will receive the Lasker Award that also comes with a $300,000 prize.

In 1973 Endo discovered a purified form of Penicillium citrinum as a fungus that blocks reductase, an enzyme that produces cholesterol. “Endo ushered in a new era in preventing and treating coronary heart disease. His work has touched millions of people,” the Lasker Foundation said.

An American microbiologist, Stanley Falkow of Stanford University, will receive an award himself for his contribution to understanding more about disease-causing microbes. His research was conducted at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Georgetown University, the University of Washington and then Stanford.

Two Americans and a British got another one of the prizes for discovering tiny ribonucleic acids known as micro-RNAs which are strongly related to the famous DNA. The two American scientists are: Victor R. Ambros, 54, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and Gary B. Ruvkun, 56, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The British is: David C. Baulcombe, 56, of the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Stanley Falkow, 74, made a difference by going deep into the molecular nature of antibiotic resistance so he is also on the winning list for this September’s $300,000 Lasker Award. Falkow was the first one to explain that the average human body has 10 times more microbial cells than it has cells of its own.

Therefore they are crucial for human health despite what it had been previously believed. "They're underappreciated," he says. "People are constantly trying to kill them and eradicate them."