Horvitz, H. Robert (1947-…), an American biologist, won the 2002 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his research on how genes control the growth and development of organisms. The prize was also awarded to the South African-born British biologist Sydney Brenner and the British biologist John E. Sulston. The three scientists conducted research on the development, growth, and cell death of tiny roundworms called nematodes (see Roundworm ).
Horvitz experimented with roundworms of the species Caenorhabditis elegans << `see` noh rab DY tihs `ehl` uh GANZ >> . The development of these roundworms from a fertilized egg to adult follows a set sequence involving the division and growth of exactly 1,090 cells. Adult roundworms, however, have only 959 cells. During the roundworm’s development, exactly 131 cells trigger their own death through the process called apoptosis << ap uh TOH sihs >> , also called programmed cell death.
Through experiments, Horvitz identified two genes, called ced-3 and ced-4, that begin the process of apoptosis. The experiments showed that the process is an essential aspect of the normal growth and development of organisms. Horvitz has identified similar genes in human beings. The research on apoptosis is important in the development of new drugs that could be used to prevent or accelerate apoptosis. Such drugs would be useful in the treatment of certain human diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Howard Robert Horvitz was born in Chicago on May 8, 1947. He studied mathematics and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating in 1968. He went on to study biology at Harvard University, where he received an M.A. degree in 1972 and a Ph.D. degree in 1974. After conducting research at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Horvitz joined the biology faculty at MIT in 1978.
See also Brenner, Sydney ; Sulston, John Edward .
