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Sydney Brenner, a senior distinguished fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center, is one of the past century’s leading pioneers in genetics and molecular biology. Most recently, Brenner has been studying vertebrate gene and genome evolution. His work in this area has resulted in new ways of analyzing gene sequences, which has developed a new understanding of the evolution of vertebrates. Among his many notable discoveries, Brenner established the existence of messenger RNA and demonstrated how the order of amino acids in proteins is determined. He also conducted pioneering work with the roundworm, a model organism now widely used to study genetics. His research with Caenorhabditis elegans garnered insights into aging, nerve cell function and controlled cell death, or apoptosis. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002.
Renato Dulbecco, a distinguished research professor and president emeritus of the Salk Institute, has made fundamental contributions to understanding the uncontrolled growth of cells that occurs in cancer. Best known of Dulbecco’s discoveries is that tumor viruses cause cancer by inserting their own genes into the chromosomes of infected cells. This finding was one of the first clues to the genetic nature of cancer and led to Dulbecco being awarded a Nobel Prize in 1975. Subsequently Dulbecco turned to a study of the origins and progression of tumors of the breast. He used monoclonal antibodies, tools of molecular biology that can identify cells by their chemical signatures, to characterize the tumor cells. Currently he studies the genes that are important in the normal development of the breast and in the tumors that arise in it. In 1986 Dulbecco launched the idea of studying all human genes, starting the worldwide Human Genome Project.
Roger Guillemin, a distinguished professor, won the Nobel Prize in 1977 for discoveries that laid the foundation for brain hormone research. His work brought to light an entire new class of substances shown to be important for the regulation of growth, development, reproduction and responses to stress. The impact of Guillemin’s studies has been profound for a variety of diseases and disorders, including thyroid diseases, problems of infertility, diabetes and several types of tumors. One of these hormones, called growth-hormone releasing factor, is used to treat growth deficiencies in children; another, called somatostatin, is used to control tumors of the pituitary gland. Guillemin also was among the first to isolate endorphins, brain molecules known to act as natural opiates. Following the isolation of endorphins, his work with cellular growth factors (FGFs), in addition to inhibins and activins, led to the recognition of multiple physiological functions and developmental mechanisms.