Rabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi ' onMouseout='HidePop("68096")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tel_Aviv">Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo , usually called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 391,300. The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of...
. Yonath was accepted to Tichon Hadash high school although her mother could not pay the tuition. She gave math lessons to students in return. As a youngster, she says her role model was the Polish-French scientist
Marie CurieMarie Skłodowska Curie was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship...
. She returned to Jerusalem for college, graduating from the
Hebrew University of JerusalemThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's oldest university....
with a bachelor's degree in
chemistryChemistry is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions...
in 1962, and a master's degree in
biochemistryBiochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
in 1964. In 1968, she earned a Ph.D. in
X-RayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays...
crystallography at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
She has one daughter, Hagith Yonath, a doctor at Sheba Medical Center, and a granddaughter, Noa.
Scientific career
Yonath accepted postdoctoral positions at the
Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since its inception, Carnegie Mellon has grown into a world-renowned institution, with numerous programs that are frequently ranked among the best in the world...
(1969) and MIT (1970). In 1970, she established what was for nearly a decade the only
proteinProteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular form. The amino acids in a polymer chain are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues...
crystallography laboratory in Israel. Then, from 1979 to 1984 she was a group leader with
Heinz-Günter WittmannHeinz-Günter Wittmann was a German biochemist known for his research in ribosomes....
at the
Max Planck Institute for Molecular GeneticsThe Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics is a research institute for molecular genetics based in Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Max Planck Institute network of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science.- External links :*...
in Berlin. She was visiting professor at the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
in 1977-78. She headed a Max-Planck Institute Research Unit at
DESYThe DESY is the biggest German research center for particle physics, with sites in Hamburg and Zeuthen....
in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
, Germany (1986–2004) in parallel to her research activities at the Weizmann Institute.
Yonath focuses on the mechanisms underlying
protein biosynthesisProtein synthesis is the process in which cells build proteins. The term is sometimes used to refer only to protein translation but more often it refers to a multi-step process, beginning with amino acid synthesis and transcription of nuclear DNA into messenger RNA which is then used as input to...
, by ribosomal crystallography, a research line she pioneered over twenty years ago despite considerable skepticism of the international scientific community. Ribosomes translate
RNARibonucleic acid is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate...
into protein and because they have slightly different structures in microbes, when compared to
eukaryoteA eukaryote is an organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. The defining membrane-bound structure that sets eukaryotic cells apart from prokaryotic cells is the nucleus, or nuclear envelope, within which the genetic material is carried...
s, such as human cells, they are often a target for antibiotics. She determined the complete high-resolution structures of both ribosomal subunits and discovered within the otherwise asymmetric ribosome, the universal symmetrical region that provides the framework and navigates the process of polypeptide polymerization. Consequently she showed that the ribosome is a
ribozymeA ribozyme is an RNA molecule that catalyzes a chemical reaction...
that places its substrates in
stereochemistryStereochemistry, a subdiscipline of chemistry, involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of atoms within molecules. An important branch of stereochemistry is the study of chiral molecules....
suitable for
peptide bondA peptide bond is a chemical bond formed between two molecules when the carboxyl group of one molecule reacts with the amine group of the other molecule, thereby releasing a molecule of water . This is a dehydration synthesis reaction, and usually occursbetween amino acids...
formation and for substrate-mediated
catalysisCatalysis is the process in which the rate of a chemical reaction is either increased or decreased by means of a chemical substance known as a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. The catalyst may participate...
. Two decades ago she visualized the path taken by the nascent proteins, namely the ribosomal tunnel, and recently revealed the dynamics elements enabling its involvement in elongation arrest, gating, intra-cellular regulation and nascent chain trafficking into their folding space.
Additionally, Yonath elucidated the modes of action of over twenty different
antibioticIn common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria...
s targeting the ribosome, illuminated mechanisms of
drug resistanceDrug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a drug in curing a disease or improving a patient's symptoms. When the drug is not intended to kill or inhibit a pathogen, then the term is equivalent to dosage failure or drug tolerance...
and synergism, deciphered the structural basis for antibiotic selectivity and showed how it plays a key role in clinical usefulness and therapeutic effectiveness, thus paving the way for structure-based
drug designDrug design, also sometimes referred to as rational drug design, is the inventive process of finding new medications based on the knowledge of the biological target. The drug is most commonly an organic small molecule which activates or inhibits the function of a biomolecule such as a protein which...
.
For enabling ribosomal crystallography Yonath introduced a novel technique,
cryo bio-crystallographyCryo bio-crystallography is the application of crystallography at cryogenic temperatures.-Basic principles:Cryo crystallography enables X-ray data collection at cryogenic, near liquid temperatures ....
, which became routine in structural biology and allowed intricate projects otherwise considered formidable.
At the Weizmann Institute, Yonath is the incumbent of the Martin S. and Helen Kimmel Professorial Chair.
Awards and honors
Yonath is a member of the
National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
; the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
; the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; the European Academy of Sciences and Art and the
European Molecular Biology OrganizationThe European Molecular Biology Organization promotes excellence in molecular life sciences in Europe by recognising and fostering talented scientists. Since 1964, leading scientists are elected annually to become EMBO Members based on proven excellence in research. Members number more than 1300...
.
Her awards and honors include the following:
- In 2000, the first European Crystallography Prize;
- In 2002, the Israel Prize
The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, for chemistry;
- In 2006, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry
The Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and Arts.-Laureates:...
(co-recipient with George FeherGeorge Feher is an American biophysicist working at the University of California, San Diego.- Birth and education :George Feher was born in Czechoslovakia in 1924. He received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate from UC-Berkeley....
) "for ingenious structural discoveries of the ribosomal machinery of peptide-bond formation and the light-driven primary processes in photosynthesis";
- In 2007, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is given every year since 1952 for investigations in medicine. The prize carries a prize money of 100.000 Euro. The prize awarding ceremony is traditionally on March 14, the birthday of Paul Ehrlich, in the St. Pauls-Church, Frankfurt.Awarded are...
;
- In 2008, she became the first Israeli woman to win the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
The L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science aims to improve the position of women in science by recognizing outstanding women researchers who have contributed to scientific progress...
for her vital work identifying how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics;
- In 2009, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
(co-recipient with Thomas Steitz and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan). She was the first Israeli woman to be awarded a Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
;
- As well as the Harvey Prize
The Harvey Prize is awarded annually by the Technion in Haifa, Israel. It is awarded in different disciplines of Science, Technology, Human Health, and Contributions to Peace in the Middle East. Two awards - each of $75,000 - are given away annually...
, the Kilby Prize, the Cotton Medal of the US Chemical Society, the Anfinsen Award of the International Protein Society, the Paul KarrerPaul Karrer was a Swiss organic chemist best known for his research on vitamins. He and Walter Haworth won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1937.-Early years:...
Gold Medal from the University of ZurichThe University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 24,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy...
, the University of Southern California's Massry Award and Medal, the Datta Medal of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies, the Fritz Lipmann Award of the German Biochemical Society and the Louisa Gross Horwitz PrizeLouisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers that have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemistry....
from Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
.
External links