Michael Rosbash, Ph.D.

2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The research of Michael Rosbash, Ph.D., focuses on the metabolism and processing of mRNA, the molecular link between DNA and protein, and ultimately led to his receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017. After arriving at Brandeis University in 1974, Dr. Rosbash began to investigate the genetic influences on circadian rhythms of the internal biological clock within species, particularly fruit flies, that helps them adapt their biological rhythm to the different phases of day and night. In 1984, he and his colleagues identified a gene that encodes a protein that accumulates during the night but is degraded during the day. They also identified additional proteins that form part of a self-regulating biological clockwork in the fruit fly’s cells. The same principles have been shown to apply to other animals and plants.