Alexander Varshavsky, Caltech's Howard and Gwen Laurie Smits
Professor of Cell Biology, has been awarded the Otto Warburg Medal
of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM).
The medal is considered to be the highest German award for
biochemists and molecular biologists.
Varshavsky's main recognized contribution was the fundamental
discovery, in the 1980s, of biological regulation by intracellular
protein degradation and its central importance in cellular
physiology. This discovery by the Varshavsky laboratory involved
the understanding, through genetic and biochemical insights, of the
biological functions of the ubiquitin system, a major proteolytic
circuit in living cells. Ubiquitin is a small protein that is
present in cells either as a free protein or as a part of complexes
with many other proteins. The association of ubiquitin with
cellular proteins marks them for degradation or other metabolic
fates. Through its ability to destroy specific proteins, the
ubiquitin system plays a major role in cell growth and
differentiation, DNA repair, regulation of gene expression, and
many other biological processes.
"Alexander Varshavsky's research on ubiquitin-dependent
intracellular protein degradation has revolutionised that area of
research," Professor Irmgard Sinning, president of GBM, said in the
citation. "We owe to him a series of discoveries with a tremendous
impact on cell biology and helping us to better understand and
study numerous diseases."
The recipient of numerous awards, including most recently the
2012 King Faisal
International Prize for Science, Varshavsky earned his BS from
Moscow State University in 1970 and his PhD from the Institute of
Molecular Biology in 1973. He has been Smits Professor at Caltech
since 1992.
