Bruce Alberts

After graduating from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois,[10] Alberts attended Harvard College, as a pre-medicine major.[4][11] Bored by assigned laboratory "cooking classes", he petitioned to skip the physical chemistry laboratory requirement and instead was allowed to work with his tutor Jacques Fresco, in Paul M. Doty's laboratory. The summer's research led to the publication of two successful papers on mismatch errors in the helical structures of DNA and RNA,[12][13] and Alberts decided to continue on in biophysics.[4] He graduated with his A.B. in biochemical sciences, summa cum laude, in 1960.[4]

Alberts then worked with Paul M. Doty on an "enormously ambitious" thesis on DNA replication, attempting to solve the genetic code using nearest neighbor analysis of DNA polymerase.[10][11] After failing his first oral examination in spring 1965, he completed his Ph.D. research in fall 1965.[2][10][14] His doctorate in biophysics was published by Harvard University in 1966.[1] Alberts credits his initial failure with teaching him much more than his successes.[10] "That was a very important learning experience for me. I had decided that experimental strategy was everything in science, and nobody had ever told me anything about this."[2]

After graduating, Alberts went to the Institut de Biologie Moléculaire[15] at the University of Geneva as a postdoctoral fellow, and worked with Richard H. Epstein on genes involved in DNA replication of phage T4. Epstein and his students had shown that there were at least seven different proteins needed for replication of T4 DNA. Alberts decided to do something that no one else was doing, and developed a DNA column for the purification of proteins that bound to DNA.[2] This enabled him to purify T4 Bacteriophage Gene 32.[16]

In 1966, Alberts joined the Department of Biochemical Sciences at Princeton University as an Assistant Professor. In 1971, he became an Associate Professor and in 1973 a full Professor, holding the Damon Pfeiffer Professorship in life sciences from 1975-1976.[15][17][18] At Princeton, he continued to work in the area of protein biochemistry, reconstituting systems.[2]

In 1976, Alberts accepted a position as professor and vice-chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.[17] Also in 1976, he and his students were able to add all seven proteins to double-stranded DNA in an appropriate magnesium concentration to make DNA. More years of research were spent understanding the reactions involved. Another important step in understanding DNA synthesis was realizing that leading strand DNA polymerase and lagging strand DNA polymerase were coupled.[2][19]

Alberts was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978.[17][20] From 1981 to 1985 Alberts held the American Cancer Society Research Professorship, a title granted for life as of 1980.[15] From 1985 to 1990, he was Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. From 1990-1993 he again held the American Cancer Society Research Professorship.[17]

Alberts has had a productive research career in the field of DNA replication and cell division. His textbook, Molecular Biology of the Cell, now in its sixth edition, is the standard cell biology textbook in most universities; the fourth edition is freely available from National Center for Biotechnology Information Bookshelf.[33] This book and its counterpart for undergraduate students, Essential Cell Biology,[34] have been translated into multiple languages.[35]

Alberts was awarded the National Medal of Science "for intellectual leadership and experimental innovation in the field of DNA replication, and for unparalleled dedication to improving science education and promoting science-based public policy."[36]

Alberts has received many awards and honours, including the following:[37]

• 2014, Centennial Medal, Harvard University[38][39]
• 2014, National Medal of Science[40]
• 2010, George Brown Award for International Scientific Cooperation[25]
• 2010, Vannevar Bush Award[41][42][43]
• 2005, Commander of the Order of the British Empire[37]
• 1997, Outstanding Educator Award, from The Exploratorium in San Francisco[24]
• 1975, NAS Award in Molecular Biology, "For the isolation of proteins required for DNA replication and genetic recombination and the elucidation of how they interact with DNA."[44]

• Register of the Bruce M. Alberts Papers, 1960-94, n.d., UC San Francisco Special Collections
• "Bruce Alberts on Becoming a Scientist (Oral History Collection)". CSHL Digital Archives. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
• Appearances on C-SPAN

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