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Nahum Sonenberg

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Nahum Sonenberg
נחום סוננברג
Born (1946-12-29) December 29, 1946 (age 78)
Alma materTel-Aviv University
Weizmann Institute of Science
Known forTranslational Control
AwardsGairdner Foundation International Award (2008)
Robert L. Noble Prize
Wolf Prize
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsThe Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre
McGill University

Nahum Sonenberg, OC FRS FRSC (Hebrew: נחום סוננברג; born December 29, 1946) is an Israeli Canadian microbiologist and biochemist. He is a James McGill professor of biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[1] He was an HHMI international research scholar from 1997 to 2011 and is now a senior international research scholar.[2]

Education

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Sonenberg was born in a camp for displaced persons in Wetzlar, Germany[3] and grew up in Israel. He received a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in microbiology and immunology from Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1976.[4] He later held a Chaim Weizmann postdoctoral fellowship at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology.[5] He joined McGill University in 1979.[6]

Research

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Sonenberg's primary research has been on the translational control of protein synthesis. Sonenberg also discovered the Internal ribosome entry site (IRES) mode of translation, the cap-independent initiation of translation, which is critical for some mRNA involved in stress, cell cycling and apoptosis. Currently, he has expanded his research into topics such as the roles of translation in neurobiology and synaptic plasticity.[7] Presently, his lab works on translational control in cancer, oncolytic viruses as anti-cancer drugs, microRNA control of translation, and translational control of plasticity, learning and memory.[8] He received the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 2008 for his contributions to medical science.[9] He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010.[10]

In 2014, Sonenberg was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine.[11]

Awards and recognition

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References

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  1. ^ "James McGill Professor"McGill University (Retrieved on Dec 10, 2013)
  2. ^ "Our Scientists" Archived 2017-09-22 at the Wayback MachineHHMI (Retrieved on Dec 10, 2013)
  3. ^ Canadian Who's Who Search. Grey House Publishing Canada.
  4. ^ "Science.ca : Nahum Sonenberg".
  5. ^ "Nahum Sonenberg, PhD | HHMI.org". Archived from the original on 2017-09-22. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  6. ^ Griswold, Ann (2017-08-22). "Profile of Nahum Sonenberg". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (34): 8905–8907. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.8905G. doi:10.1073/pnas.1711714114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5576845. PMID 28784780.
  7. ^ "Prof Nahum Sonenberg" Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback MachineThe Wolf Foundation (Retrieved on Jan 19, 2013)
  8. ^ "Research"Research (Retrieved on Jan 19, 2013)
  9. ^ "Nahum Sonenberg PhD"The Gairdner Foundation (Retrieved on Dec 10, 2013)
  10. ^ Governor General announces 74 new appointments to the Order of Canada
  11. ^ Israeli-Canadian scientist wins Wolf Prize for medicine, Haaretz
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h "Nahum Sonenberg awarded prestigious Wolf Prize".
  13. ^ "Fellows". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
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