Yanofsky biography
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Charles Yanofsky
American geneticist (–)
Charles Yanofsky (April 17, [1] &#; March 16, ) was an American geneticist on the faculty of Stanford University who contributed to the establishment of the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis and discovered attenuation, a riboswitch mechanism in which messenger RNA changes shape in response to a small molecule and thus alters its binding ability for the regulatory region of a gene or operon.
Education and early life
[edit]Charles Yanofsky was born on April 17, , in New York.[2] He was one of the earliest graduates of the Bronx High School of Science,[3] then studied at the City College of New York and completed his degree in biochemistry in spite of having had his education interrupted by military service in World War II including participation in the Battle of the Bulge.[2] In , having returned and completed college, he took up graduate work towards his master's degree and PhD, both granted by Y
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Charley Yanofsky in his lab at Stanford in (Image credit: Chuck Painter)
Charles “Charley” Yanofsky, the Dr. Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology, Emeritus at Stanford University, was one of the world’s most influential geneticists. Put simply, everything scientists now know about genetics rests on his initial discoveries about the relationship between DNA and proteins. Remembered for his brilliance, generosity and love of sports, Yanofsky passed away March 16 at age
“Charley was a dear friend and supportive colleague for me throughout my entire career at Stanford,” said Philip Hanawalt, professor emeritus of biology. “I marveled at his humble manner while he and his incredibly well-mentored students contributed world-class science for well over half-a-century.”
Yanofsky’s most famous and early contribution to the field of genetics, now known as the “central dogma” of molecular biology, confirmed that the linear sequence of amino acids in a protein corresponds to the linear s
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Charles Yanofsky was born April 17, in New York City, New York. He received his undergraduate education at the City College of New York () and obtained a Ph.D. in microbiology in from Yale University. In , Dr. Yanofsky moved to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he remained for the rest of his career. He became the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Molecular Biology, retiring in
Dr. Yanofsky’s research focused on the control of gene expression, specifically the molecular regulatory mechanisms of bacterial transcription. Dr. Yanofsky’s contributions to molecular biology include establishing the &#;one gene, one protein&#; relationship. In , Dr. Yanofsky and his colleagues proved that gene sequences and protein sequences are colinear: changes in DNA sequence can producera changes in protein sequence at corresponding positions. Their work demonstrated that controlled alterations in RNA structure allow RNA to serve as a regulatory molekyl in both bacterial an