Roger Kornberg American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry (2006) Date of Birth: 24.04.1947 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Education
2. Academic and Research Career
3. Nobel Legacy and Accolades
4. Involvement in the Skolkovo Innovation Center

Early Life and Education

Roger David Kornberg was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1947. His father, Arthur Kornberg, was a Nobel laureate in Medicine, and his mother, Sylvy Levy, was a biochemist. In 1967, Kornberg earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Harvard University, and five years later, he earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Academic and Research Career

In 1976, Kornberg became an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. In 1978, he returned to Stanford University as a Professor. He also conducted research at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge.

Kornberg's research focuses on the intersection of chemistry, genetics, and biology. In 2006, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription." Specifically, he determined the structure of RNA polymerase II, an enzyme responsible for reading genetic information.

Nobel Legacy and Accolades

Kornberg is a second-generation Nobel laureate, following in the footsteps of his father, Arthur Kornberg. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he received the Harvey Prize in 1997 and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize in 2006. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Involvement in the Skolkovo Innovation Center

In 2010, Kornberg became co-chair of the scientific and technological council of the Skolkovo Innovation Center in Russia. He commented that his main role would be to protect the interests of the scientific community. His involvement helped to quell skepticism about the project within the scientific community.