THE RAYMOND & BEVERLY SACKLER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE IN BIOPHYSICS

Announcement of Laureates 2006

The Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics, awarded at Tel Aviv University, has been established through the generosity of Dr. Raymond and Mrs. Beverly Sackler. The research field for 2006 is Physics of Biological Molecules and Assemblies

We are proud to announce that the 2006 Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics will be awarded to:

Dr. Harvey T. McMahon,
Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
Web page: http://www.endocytosis.org/

For his seminal contributions to:

Cell Biophysics: regulation of membrane dynamics by proteins and molecular mechanisms of endocytosis

The prize is awarded to Dr. McMahon for his seminal contributions to the discovery of structural mechanisms of clathrin-mediated endocytosis - a process crucial for a broad range of vital cellular functions. Dr. McMahon's work is concerned with identification of a protein array that orchestrates the assembly of clathrin-coated vesicles and the selection of the vesicle cargo. He resolved structures of a number of these proteins and revealed the related molecular mechanisms controlling protein-mediated membrane bending, budding and fission. Together, these results provide a framework for understanding the clathrin endocytic machinery.



Prof. Paul R. Selvin,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics
Web page: http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/people/Selvin/

For his seminal contributions to:

Single Molecule Biophysics: development of novel tools for studying atomic-scale conformational changes in biological macromolecules

The prize is awarded to Dr. Selvin for his pioneering discoveries of fluorescence techniques enabling biophysical studies of structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules. A major focus of Dr. Selvin's work is devoted to developing new forms of resonance energy transfer, including single-molecule detection, ultra-sensitive instrumentation and new luminescent lanthanide-based reagents. These novel techniques have been successfully applied to actomyosin, voltage-controlled ion-channels, dynamics of the bc1 family of proteins involved in electron transport, protein-DNA interactions and high-throughput screening of drugs.

The Sackler Prize will be shared equally among the two distinguished recipients. The prize will be awarded to the laureates in person on May 23, 2006, during the annual session of Tel Aviv University's Board of Governors' Meeting.


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