Marshall Warren Nirenberg

Marshall Warren Nirenberg ( born April 10, 1927 in New York City, New York, † January 15, 2010 ) was an American biochemist and geneticist. In 1968 he received together with Har Gobind Khorana and Robert W. Holley the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Nirenberg grew up in Florida and completed his zoology studies at the University of Florida with a thesis on caddisflies from. After moving to the University of Michigan, his interest turned to biochemistry. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, he received his doctoral degree and was then - from 1957 - at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, where he in 1962 Head of the Department of Biochemical Genetics was. His interest was especially true of the enzyme, heart and cancer research, in particular the glycogen metabolism of tumors. Together with Heinrich Matthaei he planned the most significant experiment in genetics. The so-called poly -U experiment was the key to deciphering the genetic code. It was conducted by Heinrich Matthaei alone in May 1961 at the joint laboratory. Other components of the code deciphered Nirenberg in a subsequent experiment in 1964 with Philip Leder.

Nirenberg has published his works from this period with a strictly alternating authorship with Heinrich Matthaei. Thus, the same author weight is stressed out.

Nirenberg was awarded the 1962 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, 1964 Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the 1967 Prix Charles -Léopold Mayer and the 1968 Canada Gairdner International Award, the 1968 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. In addition, he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - elected National Academy of Sciences.

Publications

  • MW Nirenberg and JH Matthaei: The dependence of cell - free protein synthesis in E. coli upon naturally Occurring or synthetic polyribonucleotides. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 47, 1961, pp. 1588-1602. PMID 14479932, PMC 223 178 ( free full text )
  • JH Matthaei and MW Nirenberg: Characteristics and stabilization of DNAase - sensitive protein synthesis in E. coli extracts. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 47, 1961, pp. 1580-1588. PMID 14471391, PMC 223177 ( free full text )
J. Heinrich Matthaei Nirenberg and Matthaei experiment Gairdner Foundation International Award Science (journal) Digital Object Identifier Integrated Authority File
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