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Marv Wickens has been appointed as the Max Perutz Professor of Molecular Biology - 4/23/2003
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Marv Wickens has received a WARF-named Professorship: Max Perutz Professor of Molecular
Biology. Prof. Wickens research has always focused on how genes work in
animal cells. He has concentrated on events after DNA has been
transcribed into RNA, en route to being translated into protein. He has
analyzed both how mRNAs are born in the nucleus and how they are
controlled in the cytoplasm. He has served extensively with the
National Institutes of Health, as a member of the N.I.H. Center for
Scientific Review Advisory Committee, and as member and Chairman of the
N.I.H. Molecular Biology Study Section. He has been President of the
RNA Society, and served as an editor of several scientific journals. He
has mentored numerous talented graduate students and post-doctoral
fellows at U.W., and is deeply gratified by their own successes.
Max Perutz
A pioneer and founder of molecular biology, Max Perutz attended the
University of Vienna. In 1936, he moved to the University of Cambridge
to begin Ph.D. work with J.D. Bernal, and there established a
long-standing connection to the Cavendish laboratory. In 1962, he
founded the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Biology,
of which was chairman until 1979. There, he helped create an atmosphere
in which new ideas were welcome, and big problems exactly the right
ones to take on. The unique blend of creativity, colleagiality and
commitment, was pivotal in the birth of molecular biology, and led to
eleven Nobel Prizes. As a scientist, Perutz pioneered the use of X-ray
crystallography to study the structure of proteins. In 1953 he
developed a method to interpret the X-ray diffraction patters of large
molecules. Using that approach, he and his colleague, John Kendrew,
determined the first protein structures, those of hemoglobin and
myoglobin. For this work, they were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry. Dr. Perutz was a prolific and talented writer of popular
articles and book reviews, and is remembered not only for his science,
but for his interest in and warm support of the work of others. The
WARF Named Professorship awards are made possible by the impressive
research efforts of UW-Madison faculty and staff. Technology arising
from these research efforts is licensed by our patent management
organization, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), to
industry. Income from successful licenses is returned to the Graduate
School to fund a variety of research activities throughout the
divisions on campus, including these awards.
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