Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, has been named one of the recipients of the Humboldt Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The Humboldt Award is granted in recognition of a researcher’s entire achievements to date, and whose fundamental discoveries, theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their discipline. The award is valued at 60,000 Euros and award winners are invited to spend up to one year cooperating on a long-term research project with colleagues at a research institution in Germany.

Aaron Ciechanover is recognized for his work on the ubiquitin-proteasome system and the identification of the components involved in the degradation of key proteins that has already led to the development of a new cancer drug. His host institution will be the Max Delbrück Center, Berlin, Germany, where he will work with the research group led by Professor Thomas Sommer on the disposal of misfolded proteins.

Aaron Ciechanover received his MD degree from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1975, and his Ph.D. in Biology from Technion in 1982. He is currently Distinguished Professor at the Cancer and Vascular Biology Research Center in the Rappaport Research Institute and Faculty of Medicine, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In 2004, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the ubiquitin-proteasome system. He is a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (Foreign Member) and is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Israel Journal of Chemistry.

• Aaron Ciechanover’s homepage
• Intracellular Protein Degradation: From a Vague Idea, through the Lysosome and the Ubiquitin–Proteasome System, and onto Human Diseases and Drug Targeting (Nobel Lecture)
  A. Ciechanover,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44(37), 5944–5967.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200501428

See also:

• Protein Degradation Series: 4 Volume Set
  R. J. Mayer, A. J. Ciechanover, M. Rechsteiner,
  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2007.
  Online ISBN: 9783527619320