By Ron Liebowitz
WALTHAM, Massachusetts — I am delighted to share the news that Brandeis professors Michael Rosbash and Jeffrey Hall today (Tuesday, Oct. 3) were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering work on circadian rhythms.
The Nobel Committee recognized Michael, the Peter Gruber Professor of Neuroscience, and Jeff, professor emeritus of biology, for discovering the master “body clock” that controls body temperature, metabolism and many other biological processes for almost all life on the planet.
Through research on the fruit fly, they discovered the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythm, which regulates the body over a 24-hour cycle. Their discovery holds great promise for eventually developing cures for a wide variety of diseases and sleep disorders.
Professors Rosbash and Hall, who each joined the Brandeis faculty in 1974, shared the award with Michael W. Young, of Rockefeller University in New York.
Michael and Jeff are the first longtime Brandeis faculty members to win the Nobel. Saul Bellow won the Nobel in literature in 1976, a year before he served as the Hiatt Visiting Professor of English. Mathematician John Nash, a Brandeis faculty member in the 1960s whose life was chronicled in the book and movie A Beautiful Mind, won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economic science in 1995. In 2003, Rod MacKinnon ’78, H’05, a member of Professor Chris Miller’s lab, became the only alumnus to receive the prestigious prize when he was honored for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels.
Michael and Jeff represent the essence of what makes Brandeis special and unique: a world-class curiosity, a desire to solve real-world challenges, and a commitment to creating a community of scientists that brings tenured professors together with students in a highly interactive and rigorous environment.
In addition to being a world-class researcher, professor and teacher, he is also a good citizen of Brandeis. Every year, he attends our open house for newly accepted students, and invites them into his lab, where they see for themselves the magic created when faculty engage with undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs, all in the same space and all working together. He’s also the No. 1 fan of our basketball and soccer teams.
On behalf of the Brandeis community, on and off campus, I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Michael and Jeff for this great achievement, and thank them for the contributions they have made to scientific discovery and our university.
This is truly a proud moment for Brandeis.
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Liebowitz is president of Brandeis University