Joachim Frank (biologist)

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Joachim Frank

Joachim Frank (born September 12, 1940 in Weidenau an der Sieg ) is a German - American biophysicist at Columbia University in New York City and the University at Albany, The State University of New York . He made significant contributions to the cryoelectron microscopy of single molecules and was able to contribute significantly to the elucidation of the structure and function of ribosomes with the electron microscopic images made possible by this . In 2017 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson .

Life

Joachim Frank was born in Weidenau, a district of Siegen today , where he passed his Abitur in 1960 at the Fürst-Johann-Moritz-Gymnasium . After the pre-degree at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg (1963), he graduated as a scholarship holder of studienstiftung at Walter trolley at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich with a degree in physics with the work study of secondary electron emission of gold at the melting point (1967). 1970 Frank was at Walter Hoppe at the Technical University of Munich with the work studies of electron micrographs high resolution and frame difference and reconstruction process doctorate . The dissertation he also at the Max Planck Institute for Protein and Leather Research (from 1973 Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry off). As a postdoctoral fellow he worked with Robert Nathan at the California Institute of Technology , with Robert Glaeser at the University of California, Berkeley, and with Benjamin Siegel at Cornell University . From 1972 Frank was research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, from 1973 research group leader (Senior Research Assistant) with Vernon Ellis Cosslett at the University of Cambridge .

Frank's contribution, which was honored with the Nobel Prize, consists in particular of making the electron microscopic images sharper using image processing methods and of combining two-dimensional electron microscopic images in such a way that they result in a three-dimensional image. This took place from 1975 to 1986. With Marin van Heel , he introduced methods of multivariate statistical analysis in the analysis of electron microscopic images in 1981 , and the associated computer program ( Spider , for System for Processing of Image Data in Electron microscopy and Related fields ) grew rapidly over time. It has a modular structure and integrates various functions (selection of image sections, cross-correlation of Fourier transform s data, etc.).

Frank has worked at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health ( University at Albany, The State University of New York ) since 1975 , interrupted by research stays in 1987 with Richard Henderson at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge and in 1994 as a Humboldt Research Award winner with Kenneth C. Holmes at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg . From 1986 to 2007 he was Professor of Biomedicine in Albany . Since 1997 Frank has also held a research professorship for cell biology at New York University ; since 1998 he has also been doing research for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Since 2003 he has been teaching at Columbia University , where he has been professor of biochemistry , molecular biophysics and life sciences since 2008 .

Frank is married and has two children. In 1997 he took in addition to German , the citizenship of the United States of. In his spare time he writes fictional texts and runs a blog, which can be found on his website Franx Fiction .

Fonts (selection)

  • M. Van Heel, J. Frank: Use of multivariate statistics in analyzing the images of biological macromolecules, Ultramicroscopy, Volume 6, 1981, pp. 187-194
  • P. Penczek, M. Rademacher, J. Frank: Three-dimensional reconstruction of single particles embedded in ice, Ultramicroscopy, Volume 40, 1992, pp. 33-53
  • J. Frank, J. Zhu, P. Penczek, Y. Li: A model of protein synthesis based on cryo-electron microscopy of the E. coli ribosome, Nature, Volume 376, 1995, p. 441
  • J. Frank, M. Rademacher, P. Penczek, J. Zhu, Y. Li, M. Ladjadj, A. Leith: SPIDER and WEB: processing and visualization of images in 3D electron microscopy and related fields, Journal of Structural Biology, Volume 116, 1996, pp. 190-199
  • J. Frank, RK Agrawal: A ratchet-like inter-subunit reorganization of the ribosome during translocation, Nature, Volume 406, 2000, p. 318
  • with Roland Beckmann, Günter Blobel a . a .: Architecture of the protein-conducting channel associated with the translating 80S ribosome, Cell, Volume 107, 2001, pp. 361-371
  • with Christian Spahn, Günter Blobel a. a .: Structure of the 80S ribosome from Saccharomyces cerevisiae-tRNA-ribosome and subunit-subunit interactions, Cell, Volume 107, 2001, pp. 373-386
  • with Christian Spahn, Jennifer Doudna a . a .: Hepatitis C virus IRES RNA-induced changes in the conformation of the 40s ribosomal subunit, Science, Volume 291, 2001, pp. 1959-1962
  • M Valle, A Zavialov, J Sengupta, U Rawat, M Ehrenberg, J Frank: Locking and unlocking of ribosomal motions, Cell, Volume 114, 2003, pp. 123-134
  • J. Frank: Three-dimensional electron microscopy of macromolecular assemblies: visualization of biological molecules in their native state, Oxford University Press 2006
  • J. Frank: Electron tomography: methods for three-dimensional visualization of structures in the cell, Springer 2008

Awards (selection)

literature

  • K. Mossman: Profile of Joachim Frank . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 104 , no. 50 , December 11, 2007, p. 19668 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.0710323105 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 3D microscopy - Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Frank, Dubochet and Henderson. In: tagesschau.de. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017 .
  2. ↑ German National Academic Foundation: Annual Report 2017 , pp. 12 and 52–53.
  3. ^ Entry in the catalog of the German National Library: DNB 482124628
  4. ↑ Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to the developer of new microscopy technology. In: Spiegel Online. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017 .
  5. ↑ a b Curriculum vitae http://franklab.cpmc.columbia.edu/franklab/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joachim-Frank-Long-CV-Sep-2016_complete1.pdf
  6. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present (PDF; 878 kB) at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org), accessed on February 23, 2017.
  7. ↑ Joachim Frank. In: nasonline.org. Retrieved February 23, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Joachim Frank. In: fi.edu. December 12, 2014, accessed February 23, 2017 .
  9. ^ The 16th Annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences Awarded for Pioneering Developments in Electron Microscopy. In: newsroom.wiley.com. February 22, 2017, accessed February 23, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Frank, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American biophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Weidenau on the Sieg