Page 57 - Rappaport Institute Magazine 2024

THE RAPPAPORT INSTITUTE
54-55
Their research proved that the ubiquitin molecule (widely distributed throughout all living organisms and cells) plays a fundamental role in cellular functions by acting as a regulatory tag that attaches itself to proteins that are destined for destruction and turnover. Proteins are the machinery of all cellular activity. The ubiquitin system has turned out to be a crucial mechanism for both minute-to-minute, as well as long- term, regulation of protein levels in processes as important and varied as cell division, transport and channel activity, cell signaling and communication, and inflammation, among many others. Professors Hershko and Ciechanover’s work has opened up new avenues of exploration, determining the direction of biochemical and medical research, and promising new treatments for cancer, immunological disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. In fact, a new anticancer medication has already been developed based on the ubiquitin discovery, and more such therapies are anticipated.
The dream of promoting medical discovery for the benefit of humankind is the primary mission of the Rappaport Institute, and the recognition of a Nobel Prize for Rappaport Institute members was a prescient prediction made by Mr. Bruce Rappaport more than two decades ago. The achievement of Professors Hershko and Ciechanover is a realization of this prediction, and the greatest possible fulfillment of the Rappaport Institute’s lofty mission.
Professor Avram Hershko founded the Biochemistry Department of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine in 1972. His interest in studying protein degradation was deemed unfashionable at the time, but Professor Hershko’s scientific intuition and single-minded pursuit of scientific truth prevailed. Professor Aaron Ciechanover joined Professor Hershko’s laboratory as a doctoral student in 1976, completed his postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later served as Director of the Rappaport Institute from 1993 to 2000.
Professor Avram Hershko holds the Mirochnick Family Chair in Life Sciences and Professor Aaron Ciechanover holds the Janet and David Polak Chair in Life Sciences.
At a glittering ceremony in the Stockholm Concert Hall on December 10, 2004, the 108th anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, Distinguished Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover received Israel’s first Nobel Prizes in science from His Majesty the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav, and raised the torch of a new era in Israeli science.
קצרתי טכסט