Joanne Chory´s work has greatly contributed to the identification of plant hormones. She investigates the natural variations in plant species as well as the reactions of plants to different light and temperature conditions. Her studies have furthered the understanding of how plants adapt to climate change. Chory´s laboratory has made a significant contribution to the decoding of three important plant hormones. For example, she and her colleagues explained how plants produce the important growth hormone auxin.

Chory studied biology at Oberlin College in Ohio (USA) and obtained her doctorate in microbiology from the University of Illinois. From 1984 to 1988 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School. She then taught at the Plant Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute in La Jolla from 1988 to 1998 as well as at the Biology Department at the University of California San Diego from 1992 to 1994. She has been the Director at the Salk Institute and a professor at the University of California San Diego since 1998. The Leopoldina elected Chory to the Organic and Evolutionary Biology Section in 2008.

The Breakthrough Prize has been awarded every year since 2013.  Each prize is endowed with 3 million US dollars. It is thereby the highest endowed science prize that can be awarded to an individual person. This year´s prizewinners also include another member of the Leopoldina in the person of Peter Walter. There are now five Leopoldina members that have received this award.