Nobel Prize award Chemistry-2006
October 04, 2006
-Karthik Gurumurthy
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this year will be awarded to Roger D. Kornberg "for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription". This was announced today. His groundbreaking work provided the first ever detailed images of the process by which genetic information is copied from DNA into RNA, a crucial step in the production of proteins.
Education and early career:
- Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1947.
- Son of Arthur Kornberg, who himself won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959.
- Studied chemistry at Harvard University, earning his Ph.D. in 1973.
- Conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University.
- Joined the faculty of Stanford University School of Medicine in 1978.
The Prize-winning work:
- Focused on understanding the process of transcription, in which the genetic information encoded in DNA is copied into RNA molecules.
- Developed innovative techniques for crystallizing the complex molecular machinery involved in transcription.
- Obtained the first high-resolution images of RNA polymerase II, the enzyme responsible for transcription in eukaryotes.
- These images revealed the intricate mechanisms by which RNA polymerase II reads the DNA code and synthesizes RNA.
Impact and significance:
- Kornberg's work has had a profound impact on our understanding of gene expression and its regulation.
- His findings have provided insights into various diseases, including cancer and developmental disorders.
- They have also opened up new avenues for the development of therapeutic drugs
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