DNA Replication
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Description
(This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).
Dr. Kornberg was born in New York City, and received his M.D. from the University of Rochester. He spent several years as a medical officer with the National Institutes of Health and then became professor and head of the Department of Microbiology at the Washington University School of Medicine. In 1959, he became chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, serving for 10 years in that capacity before taking his current position as professor in the department. Dr. Kornberg has received the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the Max Berg Award for Prolonging Human Life, the Scientific Achievement A ward of the American Medical Association, the National Medal of Science, and the Nobel Prize in medicine.
Dr. Kornberg's most notable achievements have grown out of his research into the structure and dynamics of DNA- - the substance of which all genes are made, the chemical bearer of hereditary characteristics. Using the model of a DNA molecule developed by Nobel Prize winners Francis Crick and James Watson, Dr. Kornberg was able, in 1957, to produce a chemically more exact, but genetically inert replica of the natural substance. For that work, he was awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology, with Dr. Severo Ochoa. In 1967, working with a team of biochemists at Stanford, Dr. Kornberg became the first to synthesize biologically active DNA outside a living cell. The creation of artificial DNA is a major step toward finding techniques to control virus diseases and cancer through the manipulation of DNA and other nucleotides. Dr. Kornberg's current research involves further exploration of DNA replication. His lecture will focus on work being done to discover the nature of the molecular events and the regulatory controls that determine the start of a cycle of DNA replication - - a problem basic to all cellular growth and fundamental to an understanding of cancer.
Keywords
Biology, Medicine
Creation Date
February 21, 1981
Recommended Citation
Kornberg, Arthur, "DNA Replication" (1981). DSLS 1980-1981. 8.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/dsls_1980_1981/8