Ahmet Yıldız (born 1979 in Sakarya, Turkey) is an American Turkish academic. He is currently a professor of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

molecular cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He has contributed significantly to the understanding of transport within cells, in particular how

motor protein Motor proteins are a class of molecular motors that can move along the cytoskeleton of cells. They do this by converting chemical energy into mechanical work by the hydrolysis of ATP. Cellular functions Motor proteins are the driving force b ...

s walk along filaments. He received a B.S. in physics from

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Boğaziçi Üniversitesi''), also known as Bosphorus University, is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey, historically tied to a former American educational insti ...

, Istanbul, in 2001, followed by a Ph.D. from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in 2006. After postdoctoral work with Prof. Ron Vale at

UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life ...

he joined the faculty of

in 2008. In 2003 Yildiz received the Foresight Distinguished Student Award for his study of the motion of the molecular motor myosin V. According to the

Foresight Institute The Foresight Institute (Foresight) is a San Francisco-based research non-profit that promotes the development of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, such as safe AGI, biotech and longevity. Foresight runs four cross-disciplinary p ...

: "The Distinguished Student Award recognizes the college graduate or undergraduate student whose work is deemed most notable in advancing the development and understanding of molecular

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

." The award was presented during the Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology, October 10–12, 2003, in San Francisco. The Foresight Institute Distinguished Student Award was created in 1997, and is awarded annually. Yildiz was awarded the 2005 GE & ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' Prize for Young Life Scientists. Yildiz currently teaches physics at

References

External links

Foresight Award notice

"Molecular motor Myosin VI moves ’hand over hand’, researchers say" by James E. Kloeppel
(accessed 13 January 2003) ("Myosin VI is a molecular motor that walks 'backwards' on filaments of actin.") **According to Google Scholar, the paper has been cited 1427 times.
"Myosin V Walks Hand-Over-Hand: Single Fluorophore Imaging with 1.5-nm Localization"
by Ahmet Yildiz, Joseph N. Forkey, Sean A. McKinney, Taekjip Ha, Yale E. Goldman, and Paul R. Selvin in ''Science'' (27 June 2003: Vol. 300. no. 5628, pp. 2061 – 2065)
Full PDF version of "Myosin V Walks..." paper

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research news, December 19, 2003.
"Kinesin Walks Hand-Over-Hand"
by Ahmet Yildiz, Michio Tomishige, Ronald D. Vale, and Paul R. Selvin. (''Science'' 30 January 2004: Vol. 303. no. 5658, pp. 676 – 678)
Young Scientist of the year award winner 2006
Turkish scientist's discovery of how proteins work 21st-century Turkish scientists Turkish physicists Turkish molecular biologists Turkish expatriate academics in the United States Living people University of California, Berkeley faculty 1979 births American people of Turkish descent Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers {{Turkey-scientist-stub