Aaron Ciechanover ( ; he, אהרן צ'חנובר; born October 1, 1947) is an Israeli

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

who won the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

for characterizing the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins using

ubiquitin Ubiquitin is a small (8.6 kDa) regulatory protein found in most tissues of eukaryotic organisms, i.e., it is found ''ubiquitously''. It was discovered in 1975 by Gideon Goldstein and further characterized throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Fo ...

Biography

Early life

Ciechanover was born in Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine on 1 October 1947. He is the son of Bluma (Lubashevsky), a teacher of English, and Yitzhak Ciechanover, an office worker. His mother and father supported the Zionist movement and immigrated to Israel from Poland in the 1920s.

Education

He earned a master's degree in science in 1971 and graduated from Hadassah Medical School in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in 1974. He received his doctorate in biochemistry in 1981 from the

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology ( he, הטכניון – מכון טכנולוגי לישראל) is a public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion ...

in Haifa before conducting postdoctoral research in the laboratory of

Harvey Lodish Harvey Franklin Lodish (born November 16, 1941) is a molecular and cell biologist, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and lead author of the textbook ...

at the

Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indepen ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

from 1981 to 1984.

Recent

Ciechanover is currently a Technion Distinguished Research Professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute at the Technion. He is a member of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...

, the

Pontifical Academy of Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( it, Pontificia accademia delle scienze, la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the progress of the math ...

, and is a foreign associate of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. In 2008, he was a visiting Distinguished Chair Professor at NCKU, Taiwan. As part of Shenzhen's 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening "Nobel laureate research labs", in 2018 he opened the Ciechanover Institute of Precision and Regenerative Medicine at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-SZ) is a campus of the public Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It is a joint venture between Shenzhen University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. CUHK-Shenzhen was ...

campus.

Nobel Prize

Ciechanover is one of Israel's first

Nobel Laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

, earning his Nobel Prize in 2004 for his work in ubiquitination. He is honored for playing a central role in the history of Israel and in the

history of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a leading technical university in Haifa, Israel, with a history dating back to the early 20th century. Overview The extent to which technology determines history and the creation and destiny o ...

Publications and lectures

* Ciechanover, A., Hod, Y. and Hershko, A. (1978). A Heat-stable Polypeptide Component of an ATP-dependent Proteolytic System from Reticulocytes. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 81, 1100–1105. * Ciechanover, A., Heller, H., Elias, S., Haas, A.L. and Hershko, A. (1980). ATP-dependent Conjugation of Reticulocyte Proteins with the Polypeptide Required for Protein Degradation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77, 1365–1368. * Hershko, A. and Ciechanover, A. (1982). Mechanisms of intracellular protein breakdown. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 51, 335–364. *Hershko, A. and Ciechanover, A. (1998). THE UBIQUITIN SYSTEM. Biochem. 1998 67:1, 425-479 *Ciechanover was an invited guest lecturer at the Yerevan State Medical University in Armenia in 2010. *He lectured at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea in May 2016.

Industry involvement

Ciechanover has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the following companies:

Rosetta Genomics Rosetta Genomics Ltd. was a molecular diagnostics company with offices in Israel and the United States that uses micro-ribonucleic acid (microRNA) biomarkers to develop diagnostic tests designed to differentiate between various types of cancer. ...

(Chairman), BioLineRx, Ltd, StemRad, Ltd, Allosterix Ltd, Proteologics, Inc, MultiGene Vascular Systems, Ltd,

Protalix BioTherapeutics Protalix BioTherapeutics is an Israeli pharmaceutical company that manufactures a plant-based enzyme, taliglucerase alfa, which has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of Gaucher disease. Corporate history Pro ...

, BioTheryX, Inc., and Haplogen, GmbH. Ciechanover is a member of the Advisory Board of

Patient Innovation Patient Innovation is a website that shares solutions and ideas developed by patients and informal caregivers for managing personal health issues. It is a non-profit and also provides rating tools and options to report and track modified solution ...

, a nonprofit, international, multilingual, free venue for patients and caregivers of any disease to share their innovations.

Awards

* In 2000, Ciechanover received the

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes awarded by the Lasker Foundation for a fundamental discovery that opens up a new area of biomedical science. The award frequently precedes a Nobel Prize in Medicine; almost 5 ...

. * In 2003, he was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, for biology. * In 2004, he was awarded the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

for his discovery with

Avram Hershko Avram Hershko ( he, אברהם הרשקו, Avraham Hershko, hu, Herskó Ferenc Ábrahám; born December 31, 1937) is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004. Biography He was born Herskó Ferenc in Karc ...

and

Irwin Rose Irwin Allan Rose (July 16, 1926 – June 2, 2015) was an American biologist. Along with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. Education ...

, of

-mediated

protein degradation Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called proteases, ...

. The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway has a critical role in maintaining the homeostasis of cells and is believed to be involved in the development and progression of cancer, muscular and neurological diseases, and immune and inflammatory responses. * In 2005, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

. * In 2006, he was awarded the

Sir Hans Krebs Medal The Sir Hans Krebs Lecture and Medal is awarded annually by the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) for outstanding achievements in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology or related sciences. It was endowed by the Lord Rank Centre for ...

. *In 2008. he was conferred Hon. DSc by NCKU Taiwan * In 2009, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Science by the

University of Cambodia The University of Cambodia (often referred to as UC for short; km, សាកលវិទ្យាល័យកម្ពុជា, ''Sakâlvĭtyéalai Kămpŭchéa'') is a private university located on Northbridge Road in Sen Sok District, Phnom Pe ...

. * In 2016 he became a member of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

References

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture on December 8, 2004 ''Intracellular Protein Degradation: From a Vague Idea thru the Lysosome and the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System and onto Human Diseases and Drug Targeting''
Website at the Technion

A video interview with Aaron Ciechanover

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciechanover, Aaron 1947 births Living people Nobel laureates in Chemistry Israeli Nobel laureates Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School alumni Israel Prize in biology recipients Israeli biologists Jews in Mandatory Palestine EMET Prize recipients in the Life Sciences People from Haifa Israeli Jews Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Technion – Israel Institute of Technology faculty Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of the National Academy of Medicine