- 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Intro
American geneticist and chronobiologist. Rosbash is the Peter Gruber Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University. Along with Michael Young and Jeffrey Hall, he was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm".
Education and Work Experience
1970, Ph. D. in biophysics, MIT
1970-1973, Postdoctoral fellowship in Genetics at the University of Edinburgh
1974-Present, Brandeis University, from Assistant Professor, Associate Professor to the Peter Gruber Professor of Neuroscience
1989-Present, Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Honors and Awards
2003, Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
2012, Canada Gairdner International Award
2017, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Major Academic Achievements
Prof. Rosbash is known for his discoveries concerning circadian rhythm, the cyclical 24- hour period of biological activity that drives daily behavioral patterns. Rosbash worked extensively with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and he contributed to the discovery of genes and molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of biological rhythms.
The work had far-reaching implications, particularly for understanding the influence of genetic cues on daily physiological processes in humans. In more recent years,
Rosbash has been working on the brain-neuronal aspects of circadian rhythms. Seven anatomically distinct neuronal groups have been identified that all express the core clock genes. The Rosbash laboratory is interested in RNA processing as well as the genes and mechanisms that underlie circadian rhythms.