Jack W. Szostak
| Jack William Szostak | |
|---|---|
Szostak at the 2010 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
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| Born |
November 9, 1952 London, United Kingdom |
| Residence | United States |
| Citizenship | Canada |
| Fields |
Biochemistry Genetics Synthetic Biology |
| Institutions |
Harvard Medical School Howard Hughes Medical Institute |
| Alma mater |
McGill University Cornell University |
| Thesis | Specific binding of a synthetic oligonucleotide to the yeast iso-1 cytochrome c̲ mRNA and gene (1977) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ray Wu |
| Notable students | David Bartel, Jennifer Doudna, Terry Orr-Weaver, Andrew W. Murray, Rachel Green |
| Notable awards | Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (2009) Lasker Award (2006) NAS Award in Molecular Biology (1994) |
Jack William Szostak (born November 9, 1952) is a Canadian Americanbiologist of Polish British descent, Nobel Prize laureate, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Alexander Rich Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Szostak has made significant contributions to the field of genetics. His achievement helped scientists to map the location of genes in mammals and to develop techniques for manipulating genes. His research findings in this area are also instrumental to the Human Genome Project. He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres.
Szostak grew up in Montreal and Ottawa. Although Szostak does not speak Polish, he stated in an interview with Wprost weekly that he remembers his Polish roots. He attended Riverdale High School (Quebec) and graduated at the age of 15 with the scholars prize. He graduated with a B.Sc in cell biology from McGill University at the age of 19. In 1970, as an undergraduate, he participated in The Jackson Laboratory's Summer Student Program under the mentorship of Dr. Chen K. Chai. He completed his PhD in biochemistry at Cornell University (advisor Prof. Ray Wu) before moving to Harvard Medical School to start his own lab at the Sydney Farber Cancer Institute. He credits Ruth Sager for giving him his job there when he had little yet to show. In 1984 Howard Goodman lured him away to Massachusetts General Hospital and the Department of Molecular Biology. He was granted tenure and a full professorship at Harvard Medical School in 1988.
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