Arthur L Horwich MD
Sterling Professor of Genetics and Professor of Pediatrics; and Investigator HHMI
Departments & Organizations
Affiliated FacultyBiological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS): Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics and Development | Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology: Protein Folding, Dynamics and Degradation
Kavli Institute for Neuroscience
Pediatrics
Genetics
Biography
Horwich received undergraduate and M.D. degrees from Brown University, trained in Pediatrics at Yale, was then a postdoctoral fellow first at Salk Institute in the Tumor Virology Laboratory, and then in Genetics at Yale, then joined the Yale faculty. His work was initially involved with protein import into mitochondria and resulted in discovery of a "folding machine" inside mitochondria, Hsp60. He has used genetic, biochemical, and biophysical tools to study the mechanism of action of these ring shaped so-called chaperonin machines that provide essential assistance to protein folding in many cellular compartments. More recently he has focused on neurodegenerative disease as caused by protein misfolding, seeking to understand how misfolded SOD1 enzyme in the cytosol of motor neurons leads to one form of ALS. His lab is modeling mutant SOD1-linked ALS in C.elegans, which paralyze with mutant but not wild-type SOD1, and in mice made transgenic for mutant and wild-type SOD1-YFP that likewise paralyze specifically with mutant transgene. Mutant mice are being analyzed at the level of EM, laser capture of motor neurons for profiling, by ES cell production and motor neuron differentiation, and by genetic modification.
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Education
- M.D., Brown University , 1975
Selected Publication
- Elad, N., Farr, G.W., Clare, D.K., Orolova, E.V., Horwich, A.L., and Saibil, H.R. (2007). Topologies of a substrate protein bound to the chaperonin GroEL. Mol. Cell 26, 415-426.
Latest Honor and Recognition
- National Academy of Sciences(2003)
Articles
May/June 2008
A scientific assault on brain diseases
The School of Medicine is home to outstanding research programs in cell biology and neurobiology, and members of its...
Jan/Feb 2006
Medical school welcomes first Gilliam Fellows
At age 10, Meisha Bynoe dreamed of saving lives in her Caribbean homeland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As a child,...
Aug/Sept 2005
Form leads to function
It’s true that biologist Arthur L. Horwich, M.D., received last year’s Gairdner International Award for having...
May/June 2008
Yale geneticist wins Wiley Prize for hypertension research
Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D., chair and Sterling Professor of Genetics, an internationally known expert on the...
Nov/Dec 2007
Structural biologist wins top science prize
In a ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, Canada, on October 25, Yale scientist Thomas A. Steitz, Ph.D.,...
May/June 2006
Two Yale biologists receive Gairdner Awards
Joan A. Steitz, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical...
Sept/Oct 2007
Expert on protein-folding is named Sterling Professor
School of Medicine researcher Arthur L. Horwich, M.D., has been named Sterling Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics....
Nov/Dec 2011
Winners of the Lasker Award
Sterling Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics Arthur Horwich, M.D. (third from left), is a co-recipient of the 2011...
Aug/Sept 2005
Student explorations in the world of research
As he delivered the 18th annual Farr Lecture at Student Research Day in May, Arthur L. Horwich, M.D., described his own...
Sept/Oct 2011
Scientist joins a most distinguished fold
The elegant vaulted ceilings and leaded glass of the school’s Medical Historical Library provided the proper setting...
June 2012
Scientists honored for research unveiling molecular machines
The month of May brought the good news that two School of Medicine scientists, each of whom have done pathbreaking work...
Jan/Feb 2009
Scientist is doubly honored for protein-folding breakthroughs
Last October marked a month to remember for the School of Medicine’s Arthur L. Horwich, M.D., Sterling Professor of...
November 2010
200 years of medicine at Yale
Articles of Union that bound Yale College and the Connecticut Medical Society together in the creation of the Medical...
Medicine@Yale, the bimonthly newsletter of Yale School of Medicine (YSM), chronicles achievements
of YSM in basic and clinical research, medical education, and health care. Read More...
