Robert Tjian

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Robert Tse Nan Tjian (born September 22, 1949 in Hong Kong ) is an American biochemist , professor at the University of California at Berkeley and president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until the end of 2016 .

Life

Robert Tjian was born in Hong Kong when his family fled the communist victory in the Chinese civil war . His family settled in Brazil , where his father - a former Chinese industrialist - founded a paper mill. In 1963 Robert Tjian moved to the United States, New Jersey , and attended high school there.

Tjian earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971 and a Ph.D. at Harvard University . As a postdoctoral fellow , he worked with James Watson at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory .

In 1979 Tjian received his first professorship (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Molecular Biology and Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley and was given a full professorship in 1982. Over the years he has held numerous - in some cases managerial - functions, most recently as head of the Center for Stem Cell Research .

Robert Tjian was President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) from 2009 to 2016 . He leads research groups at the Janelia Research Campus (part of the HHMI) and at the University of Berkeley .

Tjian is married and has two daughters. His last name is pronounced ˈtiːdʒɛn . Occasionally his name is found as Robert Tijan .

Act

Tjian produced fundamental research results on the regulation of transcription in eukaryotes . He started from the SV40 virus , which is sometimes associated with the development of cancer ( oncogenesis ). Tjian was able to show that the SV40 tumor antigen binds specifically to signal DNA of the host organism , that the activator AP1 consists of two oncogene products and that cancer can be triggered by disruptions in transcription regulation. In Tjian's working group, around 100 transcription factors in Drosophila melanogaster and humans were identified, isolated and characterized over a period of more than 20 years . Among other things, are structural biological , biochemical , genetic (e.g., gene knockdown , or DNA microarray ) and optical methods are used.

More recent work deals with the mechanisms of disturbed transcription regulation that underlie certain diseases (such as diabetes mellitus , cancer , Parkinson's disease or Huntington 's disease ).

Numerous biochemical methods were developed or refined by Tjian. He is the founder (with David V. Goeddel and Steven L. McKnight) of the NASDAQ- traded biotechnology company Tularik Inc. , based in San Francisco , which was sold to Amgen in 2004 for US $ 1.3 billion .

Since 2014 Thomson Reuters has counted him among the favorites for a Nobel Prize ( Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates ) due to the number of his citations .

Awards (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Robert Tjian Named California Scientist of the Year 1994 at berkeley.edu; Retrieved January 8, 2011
  2. ↑ Robert Tjian, PhD at hhmi.org; accessed on May 10, 2019.
  3. ^ Amgen - Investors - Press Release. In: investors.amgen.com. March 29, 2004, accessed April 10, 2016 .
  4. ↑ 2014 Predictions at Thomson Reuters (sciencewatch.com); Retrieved September 25, 2014
  5. ^ Academician Robert Tjian Appointed Head of Howard Hughes Medical Institute at sinica.edu.tw; accessed on May 10, 2019.
  6. ^ The Passano Awards 1945–2009 at passanofoundation.org; Retrieved January 8, 2011
  7. ^ Past Winners - Rosenstiel Award - Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center - Brandeis University. In: brandeis.edu. Retrieved January 23, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Chambon, Roeder and Tjian Receive Horwitz Prize at columbia.edu; Retrieved January 8, 2011
  9. ^ Member History: Robert Tjian. American Philosophical Society, accessed December 7, 2018 (with biographical notes).
  10. ^ The 2010 Glenn T. Seaborg Medal at the University of California, Los Angeles (ucla.edu); Retrieved August 6, 2011
  11. ↑ Prix Charles-Léopld Mayer, Grand Prix de l'Académie des sciences (PDF, 1.8 MB) in academie-sciences.fr; accessed on January 24, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Tjian, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tjian, Robert Tse Nan (full name); Tjian, Robert TN; Tjian, Bob; Tijan, Robert (wrong name form)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Hong Kong