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H. Robert Horvitz

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H. Robert Horvitz
Horvitz in 2003
Born
Howard Robert Horvitz

(1947-05-08)May 8, 1947(age 77)[3]
Chicago,Illinois, US
Alma mater
Known forApoptosis research
SpouseMartha Constantine-Paton
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsBiology
InstitutionsMRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisModifications of the host RNA polymerase induced by coliphage T4(1974)
Doctoral advisorsWalter Gilbert
James D. Watson
Notable students
Websiteweb.mit.edu/horvitz/www/

Howard Robert HorvitzForMemRSNASAAA&SAPSNAM(born May 8, 1947) is an Americanbiologistbest known for his research on thenematodewormCaenorhabditis elegans,[4][1]for which he was awarded the 2002Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,together withSydney BrennerandJohn E. Sulston,whose "seminal discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death" were "important for medical research and have shed new light on the pathogenesis of many diseases".[5]

Education and early life[edit]

Horvitz was born in Chicago, Illinois to Jewish parents,[3]the son of Mary R. (Savit), a school teacher, and Oscar Freedom Horvitz, a GAO accountant. He majored in mathematics atMassachusetts Institute of Technology,where he joinedAlpha Epsilon Piand spent his summers working for IBM, at first wiring panels for accounting machines and then in his final summer helping to develop IBM'sConversational Programming System.[1]

During his senior year, Horvitz took his first courses in biology and was encouraged by his professors to continue to study biology in graduate school, despite his limited coursework in the field. After he completed his undergraduate studies in 1968, he enrolled in graduate studies in biology atHarvard University,where he studiedT4-induced modifications ofE. coliRNA polymeraseunder the direction ofWalter GilbertandJames Watson.He completed his PhD in 1974.[6]

Career[edit]

In 1974, Horvitz took a postdoctoral position at theLaboratory of Molecular Biology(LMB) in Cambridge, England, where he worked with his future Nobel prize co-winnersSydney BrennerandJohn Sulstonon the genetics and cell lineage ofC. elegans.In 1978, Horvitz was offered a faculty position at MIT, where he is currently Professor of Biology and a member of theMcGovern Institute for Brain Research.He is also an Investigator of theHoward Hughes Medical Institute.[citation needed]

Horvitz serves as the chair of the board of trustees forSociety for Science & the Publicand is a member of theUSA Science and Engineering Festival's Advisory Board.[7]

Research[edit]

At LMB, Horvitz worked with Sulston to track every non-gonadal cell division that occurred during larval development, and published a complete description of these lineages in 1977.[1][8]Later, in cooperation with Sulston and Martin Chalfie, Horvitz began investigations first characterizing several cell lineage mutants[9][10]and then seeking genes that controlled cell lineage or that controlled specific lineages. In 1981, they identified and characterized the genelin-4,a "heterochronic"mutant that changes the timeline of cell fates.[11]

In his early work at MIT, Horvitz continued his work on cell lineage and cell fate, usingC. elegansto investigate whether there was a genetic program controlling cell death, orapoptosis.In 1986, he identified the first "death genes",ced-3andced-4.He showed that functionalced-3andced-4genes were a prerequisite for cell death to be executed.[12]He went on to show that another gene,ced-9,protects against cell death by interacting withced-4andced-3,as well as identifying a number of genes that direct how a dead cell is eliminated. Horvitz showed that the human genome contains aced-3-like gene.[13][14]

Horvitz's later research continued to useC. elegansto analyze the genetic control of animal development and behavior, as well as to link discoveries in the nematode to human diseases, particularly cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such asamyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS). He made further advancements in defining the molecular pathway of programmed cell death, and has identified several key components, including: EGL-1, a protein which activates apoptosis by inhibiting CED-9;[15]transcription factorsces-1andces-2,[16][17]andced-8,which controls the timing of cell death.[18]He continued working on heterochronic mutants and other aspects of cell lineage, and established lines of research in signal transduction, morphogenesis, and neural development. Horvitz has collaborated withVictor AmbrosandDavid Bartelon a project to characterize the complete set of the more than 100microRNAsin theC. elegansgenome.[19]

Works[edit]

Scholiahas a profile forH. Robert Horvitz(Q295659).

Horvitz has over 255 publications, has been cited over 49,000 times and has anh-indexof 108.[20]

  • Sulston, J.E.; Horvitz, H.R. (March 1977). "Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans".Developmental Biology.56(1): 110–156.doi:10.1016/0012-1606(77)90158-0.PMID838129.
  • Ellis, Hillary M.; Horvitz, H. Robert (28 March 1986). "Genetic control of programmed cell death in the nematode C. elegans".Cell.44(6): 817–829.doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90004-8.PMID3955651.S2CID44031839.
  • Ellis, R E; Yuan, J; Horvitz, H R (November 1991). "Mechanisms and Functions of Cell Death".Annual Review of Cell Biology.7(1): 663–698.doi:10.1146/annurev.cb.07.110191.003311.PMID1809356.
  • Yuan, J; Shaham, S; Ledoux, S; Ellis, HM; Horvitz, HR (19 November 1993)."The C. elegans cell death gene ced-3 encodes a protein similar to mammalian interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme".Cell.75(4): 641–52.doi:10.1016/0092-8674(93)90485-9.PMID8242740.
  • Hengartner, MO; Horvitz, HR (25 February 1994). "C. elegans cell survival gene ced-9 encodes a functional homolog of the mammalian proto-oncogene bcl-2".Cell.76(4): 665–76.doi:10.1016/0092-8674(94)90506-1.PMID7907274.S2CID29437409.

Awards and honors[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdH. Robert Horvitzon Nobelprize.orgEdit this at Wikidata,accessed 11 October 2020
  2. ^ab"Fellows of the Royal Society".London:Royal Society.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-03-16.
  3. ^abGreen, David B. (May 8, 2015)."Biologist who discovered death genes' through worm research is born".This Day in Jewish History.Haaretz.RetrievedSeptember 18,2015.
  4. ^Horvitz, H. Robert (May 30, 2012)."Genetic Control of Nematode Development and Behavior".Our scientists.Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Archived fromthe originalon June 10, 2012.RetrievedSeptember 18,2015.
  5. ^Press Release,nobelprize.org. Accessed February 28, 2024.
  6. ^"H. Robert Horvitz - Biographical".nobelprize.org.Retrieved2016-01-26.
  7. ^"USA Science and Engineering Festival - Advisors".Usasciencefestival.org. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-04-21.Retrieved2013-04-23.
  8. ^Sulston, J.E.; Horvitz, H.R. (1977)."Post-embryonic Cell Lineages of the Nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans"(PDF).Developmental Biology.56(1): 110–156.doi:10.1016/0012-1606(77)90158-0.PMID838129.Retrieved26 January2016.
  9. ^Horvitz, H. R.; Sulston, J. E. (1980-10-01)."Isolation and genetic characterization of cell-lineage mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans".Genetics.96(2): 435–454.doi:10.1093/genetics/96.2.435.ISSN0016-6731.PMC1214309.PMID7262539.
  10. ^Sulston, John E.; Horvitz, H. Robert (1981-02-01). "Abnormal cell lineages in mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans".Developmental Biology.82(1): 41–55.doi:10.1016/0012-1606(81)90427-9.PMID7014288.
  11. ^Chalfie, M.; Horvitz, H. R.; Sulston, J. E. (1981-04-01). "Mutations that lead to reiterations in the cell lineages of C. elegans".Cell.24(1): 59–69.doi:10.1016/0092-8674(81)90501-8.ISSN0092-8674.PMID7237544.S2CID33933388.
  12. ^Ellis, Hilary M.; Horvitz, H. Robert (1986-03-28). "Genetic control of programmed cell death in the nematode C. elegans".Cell.44(6): 817–829.doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90004-8.PMID3955651.S2CID44031839.
  13. ^Ellis, Ronald E.; Yuan, Junying; Horvitz, H. Robert (1991-01-01). "Mechanisms and Functions of Cell Death".Annual Review of Cell Biology.7(1): 663–698.doi:10.1146/annurev.cb.07.110191.003311.PMID1809356.
  14. ^"MIT's Horvitz shares Nobel Prize in physiology".MIT News.Retrieved2016-01-26.
  15. ^Conradt, B.; Horvitz, H. R. (1998-05-15)."The C. elegans protein EGL-1 is required for programmed cell death and interacts with the Bcl-2-like protein CED-9".Cell.93(4): 519–529.doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81182-4.ISSN0092-8674.PMID9604928.S2CID1668835.
  16. ^Metzstein, M. M.; Horvitz, H. R. (1999-09-01)."The C. elegans cell death specification gene ces-1 encodes a snail family zinc finger protein".Molecular Cell.4(3): 309–319.doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80333-0.ISSN1097-2765.PMID10518212.
  17. ^Metzstein, Mark M.; Hengartner, Michael O.; Tsung, Nancy; Ellis, Ronald E.; Horvitz, H. Robert (1996-08-08). "Transcriptional regulator of programmed cell death encoded by Caenorhabditis elegans gene ces-2".Nature.382(6591): 545–547.Bibcode:1996Natur.382..545M.doi:10.1038/382545a0.PMID8700229.S2CID4307474.
  18. ^Stanfield, G. M.; Horvitz, H. R. (2000-03-01)."The ced-8 gene controls the timing of programmed cell deaths in C. elegans".Molecular Cell.5(3): 423–433.doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80437-2.ISSN1097-2765.PMID10882128.
  19. ^"The Horvitz Laboratory".web.mit.edu.Retrieved2016-01-26.
  20. ^"Web of Science".Thomson Reuters.Retrieved19 September2015.
  21. ^abc"H. Robert Horvitz".The Gruber Foundation.RetrievedJanuary 13,2018.
  22. ^"NAS award in molecular biology".National Academy of Sciences.Retrieved20 May2016.
  23. ^"Horvitz receives Roche's Mattia Award".MIT News.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. November 3, 1993.Retrieved17 October2022.
  24. ^"Hans Sigrist Prize Winners".University of Bern.Retrieved20 May2016.
  25. ^"Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center - Past Winners".brandeis.edu.Brandeis University.Retrieved17 October2022.
  26. ^"recipients of the passano laureate and physician scientist awards".The Passano Foundation, Inc.Passano Foundation.Retrieved17 October2022.
  27. ^"In recognition of their pioneering contribution to our understanding of apoptosis".gairdner.org.the Canada Gairdner Foundation.Retrieved17 October2022.
  28. ^"Prize Winners of the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize"(PDF).goethe-university-frankfurt.de.The Paul Ehrlich Foundation.Retrieved17 October2022.
  29. ^"MARCH OF DIMES PRIZE IN DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY RECIPIENT LIST"(PDF).marchofdimes.org.Retrieved17 October2022.
  30. ^"Horwitz Prize Goes To MIT's Horvitz, Harvard's Korsmeyer".Columbia University Record.26(8). 30 October 2000.Retrieved19 September2015.
  31. ^"The Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research, 2001: H. Robert Horvitz, PhD".The Neuroscientist.7(6): 551. December 2001.doi:10.1177/107385840100700611.PMID11765132.S2CID41177724.Retrieved17 October2022.
  32. ^"The 2001 Genetics Society of America Medal: H. Robert Horvitz".Genetics Society of America.Retrieved17 October2022.
  33. ^"H. Robert Horvits".Superstars of Science.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-08-10.Retrieved18 September2015.
  34. ^"The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences".John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Retrieved17 October2022.
  35. ^"2002 Genetics Prize: H. Robert Horvitz".Gruber prizes.The Gruber Foundation.Retrieved20 May2016.
  36. ^"American Philosophical Society Member History".amphilsoc.org.
  37. ^"Mendel Medal".The Genetics Society.Retrieved17 October2022.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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