Prof. Kornberg serves as a fellow in the university's biological chemistry department, researches there 4 months a year, and received an honorary doctorate from her
Avi Blizovsky
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today its decision to award the Nobel Prize to Prof. Roger Kornberg for his research on the subject of "deciphering the molecular basis for the processes of gene expression down to the level of atomic separation".
Prof. Kornberg is a professor of structural biology at Stanford University, and is also a fellow of the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Institute of Life Sciences and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the Hebrew University since 1986, where he teaches and researches for four months each year.
The award announcement published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences states that Prof. Kornberg was the first to create a true picture of how transcription works at the molecular level in the important group of eukaryotic organisms (organisms whose cells contain a well-defined nucleus). The reproduction process is necessary for the existence of all life forms; Disturbances in the transcription process are devastating and related to a variety of human diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
The Hebrew University announced that the Hebrew University congratulates Prof. Roger Kornberg on the occasion of his winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2006. The President of the Hebrew University, Prof. Menachem Magidor, said today "We congratulate Prof. Kornberg who has been working with us for many years and are proud of his achievements the impressive ones. Beyond the fact that the Hebrew University is an excellent institution thanks to its researchers, it is also a center of attraction for leading scientists from around the world, such as Prof. Kornberg." The rector of the university, Prof. Haim Rabinovitch added: "We are happy with the recognition that Prof. Korenberg received today for deciphering one of life's most important secrets, we congratulate him and bless him for his success and long-term partnership in research and teaching, at the Institute of Life Sciences, at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Hebrew University" .
Kornberg was born in St. Louis in 1947 and won many awards for his work in the field of chemistry. In 2001 he received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University.
As I recall, on Monday two researchers from the USA, Dr. Andrew Fire (Fire) and Dr. Craig Mello (Mello) won the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The two discovered a phenomenon known as RNA interference that oversees gene expression. The process has the potential to help researchers turn off genes that cause damage to the body. This discovery may lead to new treatments for a variety of diseases, including viral epidemics and cancer.
