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Nahum Sonenberg mentor Send message Address   McGill University Department of Biochemistry, McIntyre Medical Bldg. Rm 807 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler Montreal QC H3G 1Y6   Tel   514-398-7274 Fax   514-398-1287 Email   nahum.sonenberg@mcgill.ca   Biography   Nahum Sonenberg received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Microbiology and Immunology) from Tel-Aviv University. Upon completing his Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel), he joined the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, New Jersey with a Chaim Weizmann post-doctoral fellowship. He joined McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 1979, and is today a James McGill Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and the McGill Cancer Centre. Dr. Sonenberg's primary research interests have been in the field of translational control. He identified the mRNA 5' cap-binding protein, eIF4E, in 1978. He and his colleagues have continued to study the factors that recruit ribosomes to the mRNA. He discovered the IRES mechanism of translation initiation in eukaryotes, and the regulation of cap-dependent translation by eIF4E binding proteins. He elucidated the mechanisms by which eIF4E regulates cell growth, and established a pathway by which eIF4E can cause cancer. While investigating an eIF4E binding protein to determine if it played a role in the development of cancer in mice, he and his colleagues inadvertently found that the protein played a role in the metabolism of adipose tissue, and Dr. Sonenberg's research focus now includes the study of obesity. Dr. Sonenberg has a long time interest in virology. He studies poliovirus, rhinoviruses, HIV and HCV. In 2002, Dr. Sonenberg was awarded the Noble Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada. He is an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and has been a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1982. Dr. Sonenberg is also a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Distinguished Scientist. Dr. Sonenberg was awarded the 2005 Killam Prize for Health Sciences. In 2006, Dr. Sonenberg was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and to the Royal Society, U.K.   Testimony     Disciplines   Biochemistry;Biochemistry; Microbiology; Virology; [top]