Nobel Laureate To Present Research Seminar and Speak at Commencement

28 April 2006—H. Robert Horvitz, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002, and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will present a lecture, titled “The Genetic Control of Programmed Cell Death in C. elegans,” on 12 May 2006 at 3:00 p.m. in the Berg Auditorium, 100 Life Science Building, on the University Park campus. This research seminar is sponsored by the Eberly College of Science and is open to the public at no cost. On Saturday, 13 May, Horvitz will deliver the commencement address at the Eberly College of Science commencement ceremony at the Bryce Jordan Center at 9:00 a.m.

Horvitz’s research focuses on the molecular, developmental, and behavioral genetics of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans is an excellent research model because the complete cellular anatomy and cell lineage are known and the complete DNA sequence is available. He uses techniques from genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, and electrophysiology to analyze the development and behavior of C. elegans. By isolating and characterizing C. elegans nematodes with specific genetic mutations, he is able to study how the genome controls development and behavior. One focus of his research is the naturally occurring, “programmed” cell death known as apoptosis.

Misregulation of apoptosis has been implicated in a diversity of human disorders, including cancer, heart attacks, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases. Horvitz says, “An understanding of programmed cell death should provide new insights concerning human biology and new approaches to the development of pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of such disorders.” He explains, “Many of the C. elegans genes involved in programmed cell death show structural and functional similarities to genes that act in mammalian apoptosis, indicating that the mechanisms of programmed cell death are conserved among organisms as distinct as nematodes and humans.

Horvitz joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as assistant professor of biology in 1978 and was promoted to associate professor in 1981. In 1982, he was named the Whitehead Career Development Associate Professor of Biology, a position he held until 1985. He was promoted to professor in 1986 and was the Whitehead Professor of Biology in 1999 and 2000. In 2000, he was named the David H. Koch Professor of Biology. In addition to his work at the Massachusetts Institute of Techology, he has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1988, a member of the Center for Cancer Research since 2000, and an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research since 2001. He also has worked as a geneticist and neurobiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital since 1989.

Horvitz earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees in biology at Harvard University in 1972 and 1974, respectively. His work has been recognized with many awards, including a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002, the Alfred G. Knudson Award from the National Cancer Institute in 2005, the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor in 2002, the Genetics Society of America Medal in 2001, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience in 2001, the Charles-Leopold Mayer Prize from the French Academy of Sciences in 2000, the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology in 2000, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 2000 and the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1999.

Horvitz is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society of Microbiology, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the Genetics Society of America. He also has served on editorial boards for several scientific journals.

For more information about the lecture, contact the Eberly College of Science Office of Alumni Relations at Development at 863-9763 or 1-800-297-1429.

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