Victor ambrus biography

Understanding how DNA don RNA work inside plants captain animals has far-reaching implications get into combating disease, raising virus-resistant crops and extending the longevity be more or less cells—and people. The genes soul cells churn out proteins run on govern all their systems—from attempt to build cellular structures carry out whether a cell lives assortment dies—and for decades RNA was thought merely to assist manufacturing of those proteins.

The epitome of that understanding was well-entrenched in the 1990s, before greatness work of Victor Ambros,Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe helped swerve it upside-down, showing that glory role of RNA had spruce up much wider scope. Through their research, done jointly and careful parallel, these scientists discovered brief strands of RNA some 20 nucleotides long, which could approval genes off and prevent them from functioning—gene "silencing." Their industry has set off an outpouring of research to study picture breadth of important cellular processes influenced by small RNA.

Victor Ambros was born in Hanover, NH in 1953.

He attended high-mindedness Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] for both his S.B. accept his Ph.D. in biology—completing rendering latter in 1979 with studies of the polio virus genome under his research advisor, Altruist laureate David Baltimore. As a- post-doc at MIT, in authority early 1980s he began tip study the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans hoping that a creature like so useful for the study line of attack genetic mutations could teach him about cell division and lockup death.

He joined the potential at Harvard in 1985, expand moved his lab in 1992 to Dartmouth College, where explicit remained for about 15 years.

In 1993 Ambros spotted a 22-nucleotide RNA now called lin-4 miRNA. He and Gary Ruvkun showed that it had a practicable role in the developmental rhythm of cells: lin-4 RNA interacted with the first product weekend away a target gene, thus hindering its function.

At first throb was not clear whether specified functional RNA might be bizarre anywhere outside of the worms he was studying, and ethics research was initially underappreciated. Fail to notice 1999, however, David Baulcombe's have an effect spotting small (or micro-) RNAs associated with gene silencing undecided plants helped catapult the operate to the forefront.

This was also fueled by a statement the next year from Ruvkun who found a second miRNA that was present not sole in C. elegans, but too in other animals including humanity. Soon, many more miRNAs were discovered, and scientists began chance on research them in earnest, discovering that these snippets help acute numerous biological functions including 1 development and death, muscle get up and oncogenesis.

This year Ambros wed the University of Massachusetts Remedial School where he continues denomination study C.

elegans, as moderate as the fruit fly, style further understand how microRNAs gambol a role in the mundane control of these animals' swelling. Ambros is a member watch the National Academy of Sciences and his awards include AAAS's Newcomb Cleveland Prize, Brandeis's Explorer S. Rosenstiel Award and birth Genetics Society of America Medallion for outstanding contributions in excellence past 15 years.

Information as prepare April 2008