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RefNoEC/1993/41
LevelItem
TitleAlberts, Bruce Michael: certificate of election to the Royal Society
Date1992
DescriptionCertificate of Candidate for Election to Foreign Membership. Citation typed
CitationThe candidate is one of America's most respected molecular biologists. He is distinguished primarily for his pioneering work in DNA replication. Early in his career, he developed the technique of DNA cellulose chromatography, which he used to analyse and isolate DNA-binding proteins of the bacteriophage T4. In this way he discovered the gene 32 protein, which turned out to be the prototype for a class of helix-destabilizing proteins present in all organisms. He showed that the protein is required for both DNA replication and genetic recombination. He developed one of the first in vitro complementation assays, which he used to purify the remaining components of the T4 DNA replication apparatus, which he then combined to produce an in vitro replication system that replicated double-stranded DNA with in vivo rates and fidelity. His analysis of the individual components eventually revealed their functions. He later extended his analysis to genetic recombination mechanisms in T4 and their interaction with DNA replication mechanisms. His work helped lay the foundations for our current understanding of the mechanisms involved in DNA replication and, more generally, of how complex protein machines operate and how they can be analysed. More recently, he has developed an additional interest - in the structure and function of the cytoskeleton of the early Drosophila embryo. He has already become a leading figure in this area, using microtubule- and actin-filament-affinity chromatography to isolate and characterise novel cytoskeletal proteins, especially those associated with the centrosome, a crucial but enigmatic organelle. The candidate has had an important influence on the practice, politics and teaching of science - as Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF, as chairman of various committees of the American National Academy of Sciences, as chairman or member of the advisory boards of numerous universities and institutes in America and Europe, as President of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and as co-author of the influential cell biology textbook Molecular Biology of the Cell.
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    Browse the records of some of our collections, which cover all branches of science and date from the 12th century onwards. These include the published works of Fellows of the Royal Society, personal papers of eminent scientists, letters and manuscripts sent to the Society or presented at meetings, and administrative records documenting the Society's activities since our foundation in 1660.

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