Michael B. Elowitz is a

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 ...

and professor of Biology, Bioengineering, and Applied Physics at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Genius grant, better known as the MacArthur Fellows Program for the design of a synthetic gene regulatory network, the Repressilator, which helped initiate the field of

synthetic biology Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature. It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad ran ...

. In addition, he showed, for the first time, how inherently random effects, or 'noise', in gene expression could be detected and quantified in living cells, leading to a growing recognition of the many roles that noise plays in living cells. His work in Synthetic Biology and Noise represent two foundations of the field of Systems Biology.

Career

His laboratory studies the dynamics of genetic circuits in individual living cells using synthetic biology, time-lapse microscopy, and mathematical modeling, with a particular focus on the way in which cells make use of noise to implement behaviors that would be difficult or impossible without it. Recently, his lab has expanded their approaches beyond bacteria to include eukaryotic and mammalian cells.

Life

Elowitz grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where he attended the humanities magnet at

Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles) Alexander Hamilton High School, also known as Hamilton High School or Hamilton, is a public high school in the Castle Heights neighborhood within the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is in the Los Angeles Unified Schoo ...

. He studied Physics and graduated with a B.A. from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1992, and from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

with a Ph.D. in 1999. In 1997–1998, he spent one year at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory at Heidelberg. Afterwards, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University in New York City. While working as a

graduate student Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and s ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

he co-authored songs such as ''Sunday at the Lab'' with Uri Alon.

Awards

* 2022 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences * 201
Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics
* 2015 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences * 2011 HFSP Nakasone Award * 2008 Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering * 2008 Discover Magazine "Top 20 under 40" * 2007 MacArthur Fellows Program * 2006 Packard Fellow * 2004 Technology Review TR100 List of Top Innovators * 2003 Burroughs Welcome Fund Interfaces award

Peer-reviewed publications

*Li P, Markson JS, Wang S, Chen S, Vachharajan V, Elowitz MB, "Morphogen gradient reconstitution reveals Hedgehog pathway design principles," ''Science'' (2018). *Bintu L, Yong J, Antebi YE, McCue K, Kazuki Y, Uno N, Oshimura M, Elowitz MB, "Dynamics of epigenetic regulation at the single-cell level," ''Science'' (2016). *Lin Y, Sohn CH, Dalal CK, Cai L, Elowitz MB, Combinatorial gene regulation by modulation of relative pulse timing, ''Nature,'' 2015 * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

"Hacking DNA", ''IEEE Spectrum'', Paul McFedries, October 2009"Michael B Elowitz", ''Scientific Commons''"Michael Elowitz", ''Science blog''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elowitz, Michael 21st-century American biologists MacArthur Fellows California Institute of Technology faculty Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of California, Berkeley alumni Princeton University alumni Synthetic biologists Systems biologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers