Roger Kornberg

Dr. Kornberg is an American biochemist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2006, Dr. Kornberg was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. He determined how DNA’s genetic blueprint is read and used to direct the process for protein manufacture. Dr. Kornberg carried out a significant part of the research leading to this prize at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), a Department of Energy (DOE)-supported research facility located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Kornberg was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. In 1976 he became an Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School before moving to his current present position at Stanford Medical School in 1978.

Dr. Kornberg also carried out research at the Advanced Light Source, another DOE-funded synchrotron light source located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Kornberg was the first to create an actual picture of how transcription works at a molecular level in the important group of organisms called eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a well-defined nucleus). Humans and other mammals are included in this group, as is ordinary yeast. For cells to produce working proteins—a process necessary for life—information stored in DNA must first be transcribed into a form readable by the cell’s internal machinery.

Dr. Kornberg has served as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Boards of many companies including Cocrystal Discovery, Inc, ChromaDex Corporation, StemRad, Ltd, Oplon Ltd, and Pacific Biosciences. He has also served as a Board Director for OphthaliX Inc., Protalix BioTherapeutics, Can-Fite BioPharma, Ltd, and Teva PharmaceuticalIndustries, Ltd.

Dr. Kornberg’s studies have provided an understanding at the atomic level of how the process of transcription occurs and also how it is controlled. Because the regulation of transcription underlies all aspects of cellular metabolism, Dr. Kornberg’s research also helps explain how the process sometimes goes awry, leading to birth defects, cancer, and other diseases.