for pioneering structural biology that enabled visualisation, at the level of individual atoms, of the protein machines responsible for gene transcription, one of life’s fundamental processes. They revealed the mechanism underlying each step in gene transcription, how proper gene transcription promotes health, and how dysregulation causes disease.
The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine 2023 is awarded in equal shares to Patrick Cramer, Director, Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and President-Elect of the Max Planck Society, Germany and Eva Nogales, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA for pioneering structural biology that enabled visualisation, at the level of individual atoms, of the protein machines responsible for gene transcription, one of life’s fundamental processes. They revealed the mechanism underlying each step in gene transcription, how proper gene transcription promotes health, and how dysregulation causes disease.
The Central Dogma, a theory put forward in 1958 by Francis Crick, is the fundamental concept of life. Three crucial molecules are involved: DNA houses an organism’s genetic blueprint. The DNA genome contains the information required to produce all of an organism’s proteins. Proteins endow cells, tissues, and organisms with their forms and capabilities. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is the intermediate molecule that links DNA to proteins. Particular DNA instructions are converted into individual mRNA molecules to produce specific proteins by a process called gene transcription. Crucially, transcription of specific genes must occur at the correct times and in the correct cellular locations so that the subsets of proteins required for function are only produced when and where they are needed. The gene transcription process has four steps: 1. Initiation; 2. Pausing/ Promoter Clearance; 3. Elongation; 4. Termination. This year’s Shaw Prize recipients, Eva Nogales and Patrick Cramer, pioneered structural biology approaches to enable visualisation, at the level of the individual atoms, of the protein machines responsible for gene transcription. They revealed the molecular mechanism underlying each step in gene transcription, and the importance of proper gene transcription to promote health and prevent disease.
The Central Dogma, a theory put forward in 1958 by Francis Crick, is the fundamental concept of life. Three crucial molecules are involved: DNA houses an organism’s genetic blueprint. The DNA genome contains the information required to produce all of an organism’s proteins. Proteins endow cells, tissues, and organisms with their forms and capabilities. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is the intermediate molecule that links DNA to proteins. Particular DNA instructions are converted into individual mRNA molecules to produce specific proteins by a process called gene transcription. Crucially, transcription of specific genes must occur at the correct times and in the correct cellular locations so that the subsets of proteins required for function are only produced when and where they are needed. The gene transcription process has four steps: (1) Initiation; (2) Pausing/Promoter Clearance; (3) Elongation; (4) Termination. In 2006, Roger Kornberg won the Nobel Prize for discoveries concerning how the enzyme called RNA Polymerase converts DNA into mRNA. The work of this year’s Shaw Prize recipients, Eva Nogales and Patrick Cramer, represents the next major leap in our understanding of gene transcription. They pioneered structural biology approaches to enable visualization, at the level of the individual atoms, of the protein machines responsible for gene transcription. They revealed the molecular mechanism underlying each step in gene transcription, and the importance of proper gene transcription to promote health and prevent disease.
Patrick Cramer was born in 1969 in Stuttgart, Germany and is currently Director, Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and President-Elect of the Max Planck Society, Germany. He received his Diploma in Chemistry from the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1995 and obtained a PhD from the University of Heidelberg/EMBL Grenoble, France in 1998. He was a postdoctoral fellow (1999–2001) at Stanford University, USA. He then worked at the University of Munich, Germany, where he was successively Tenure-track Professor (2001–2003), Professor (2004–2014), Director of the Gene Center (2004–2013) and Director of Biochemistry Department (2010–2013). He was appointed Director, Department of Molecular Biology at Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Germany (2014–2021). He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Academy of Europe and the US National Academy of Sciences.
Eva Nogales was born in Colmenar Viejo, Spain and is currently Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain in 1988 and obtained a PhD in Biophysics from the University of Keele, UK in 1993. She carried out postdoctoral training (1993–1995) and was appointed as Staff Scientist (1995–1998) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA. She joined the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley in 1998 where she was successively Assistant Professor (1998–2003), Associate Professor (2003–2006), Professor (2006–2021) and Distinguished Professor (2021–). She is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
