Israel Hanukoglu
| Israel Hanukoglu | |
|---|---|
| Born | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Fields | Biochemistry, molecular biology |
| Institutions | Ariel University |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Thesis | Mechanism of electron transport to cytochrome P-450 in adrenal cortex mitochondrial monooxygenase systems (1980) |
| Doctoral advisor | Colin Jefcoate |
| Other academic advisors | Neal L. First, David Nelson, W.W. Cleland |
| Known for | Keratin structure, steroidogenic enzymes, Epithelial sodium channels |
| Notable awards | Lindner Prize |
Israel Hanukoglu (Turkish: İsrael Hanukoğlu) is a Turkish-born Israeli scientist. He is a full professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Ariel University and former Science and Technology Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel (1996–1999). He is founder of Israel Science and Technology Homepage.
Israel Hanukoglu received his undergraduate degree cum laude with double majors in biology and psychology and a minor in political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for graduate studies and received his M.Sc. degree in 1976 in an inter-disciplinary Endocrinology-Reproductive physiology program. His Ph.D. thesis was on the "Mechanism of electron transport to cytochrome P-450 in adrenal cortex mitochondrial steroid monooxygenase systems" carried out under the supervision of Prof. Colin R. Jefcoate.
Prof. Hanukoglu's scientific work concentrated in three different areas outlined below.
Hanukoglu's career in molecular biology started at the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Chicago (1980-1983 with Elaine Fuchs), where he cloned and sequenced cDNAs coding for cytoskeletal proteins, actin and alpha keratins. He elucidated the first structures of cytoskeletal keratin families, and predicted the long helical domains of these proteins. By computerized analysis of amino acid sequences he predicted that the central rod domain of intermediate filament proteins is composed of four helical segments separated by three short linker sequences. Later crystallographic studies have confirmed this as a general model for intermediate filament protein structure.
During his Ph.D. thesis research, Israel isolated the mitochondrial enzymes that catalyze the first step in the synthesis of steroid hormones in all steroidogenic tissues, including the adrenal cortex, and the reproductive organs. The first step of steroidogenesis is dependent on the transfer of electrons from NADPH to a P450 type enzyme (P450scc) via an electron-transfer chain that includes two additional proteins. These proteins are located on the inner mitochondrial membrane. Israel reconstituted this system using proteins he purified, characterized the process of electron transfer between the proteins, and built a kinetic model that simulated precisely the dynamic behavior of this complex system.
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