October 7, 2002—CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
H. Robert Horvitz, David H. Koch Professor of Cancer Biology and investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, today received the 2002 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discovering and characterizing the genes controlling cell death in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

He later showed that these genes interact with each other in cell death, a normal process in every living cell, and that these genes correspond to existing genes in humans.

Horvitz, also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the MIT Center for Cancer Research, shares the prize with Sydney Brenner of the Molecular Sciences Institute of Berkeley, Calif., who established the nematode as a model organism for experimentation; and John E. Sulston of the Sanger Centre of Cambridge, England, who mapped a detailed cell lineage in C. elegans that showed that specific cells undergo programmed cell death in the process of cell differentiation. Sulston identified the first mutation of a gene participating in the cell death process.

According to the Nobel committee, the three are recognized "for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death."

Programmed cell death -- in which healthy, normal cells kill themselves -- is a necessary part of shaping developing tissues and organs and refining the central nervous system. The process also is used by the body in immune cell development and function, and for removing unnecessary or damaged cells.

"Programmed cell death is a key mechanism for regulating cell numbers and connections and for sculpting tissues," Horvitz has said. "Its misregulation can play a central role in certain cancers, autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. We now know many of the molecules that control programmed cell death." Researchers hope that by fully understanding the mechanism behind programmed cell death, they may be able to develop treatments for cancer and other diseases in which misregulated programmed cell death plays a role.

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About H. Robert Horvitz

Horvitz is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is a member of several professional societies, including the Genetics Society of America (President, 1995). He is also a member of the National Advisory Council of the National Human Genome Research Institute and was Co-chair of the Working Group on Preclinical Models for Cancer of the National Cancer Institute.

Horvitz was born on May 8, 1947, in Chicago, IL. He received bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics from MIT (1968) and the master's degree (1972) and PhD (1974) in biology from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He joined the faculty of MIT in l978 and became Professor of Biology in 1986 and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1988. Since 1989, he has held appointments at the Massachusetts General Hospital in neurology and in medicine.

Since 1972, the National Institutes of Health has provided $7.1 million in support for Horvitz.

About The McGovern Institute

The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT is a research and teaching institute committed to advancing human understanding and communications. The goal of the McGovern Institute is to investigate and ultimately understand the biological basis of all higher brain function in humans. The McGovern Institute conducts integrated research in neuroscience, genetic and cellular neurobiology, cognitive science, computation, and related areas.

By determining how the brain works, from the level of gene expression in individual neurons to the interrelationships between complex neural networks, the McGovern Institute's efforts work towards improving human health, discovering the basis of learning and recognition, and enhancing education and communication. Understanding the brain will foster better ways of communicating at all levels of society, both nationally and internationally. The McGovern Institute's work will ultimately contribute to the most basic knowledge of the fundamental mysteries of human awareness, decisions, and actions.

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