Leo Sachs
Encyclopedia
Leo Sachs (born 1924) is a German
-born Israel
i molecular biologist and cancer
researcher. Born in Leipzig
, he Emigrated to England
in 1933, and to Israel in 1952. There he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science
, where he founded the Department of Genetics.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i molecular biologist and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
researcher. Born in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, he Emigrated to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1933, and to Israel in 1952. There he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....
, where he founded the Department of Genetics.
Awards and honours
- In 1965, He was elected Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation;
- In 1972, Sachs was awarded the Israel PrizeIsrael PrizeThe Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, for natural sciences - In 1975 He was elected Member, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities;
- In 1977 Sachs was awarded the Rothschild Prize in the Biological Sciences;
- In 1980, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in MedicineWolf Prize in MedicineThe Wolf Prize in Medicine is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Arts. The Prize is probably the third most prestigious award...
, becaming the first Israeli scientist to win the Wolf Prize; for his "contributions to knowledge of the function and disfunction of the body cells through [his] studies on ... the elucidation of mechanisms governing the control and differentiation of normal and cancer cells". - In 1983 Sachs was awarded the Bristol-Myers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, New York;
- In 1985 He was elected Doctor Honoris Causa, Bordeaux University, France;
- In 1986 Sachs was awarded The Royal Society Wellcome Foundation Prize, London;
- In 1989 Sachs was awarded Alfred P. Sloan Prize, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, New York;
- In 1995, he was also elected as a Foreign Associate to the U.S. National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(NAS). - In 1996, Sachs received the Ot Hanagid (Medal of the Governor) award, presented annually by Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, for his pioneering work in cancer research. The presentation noted that "He discovered and identified a group of proteins among them colony-stimulating factorColony-stimulating factorColony-stimulating factors are secreted glycoproteins that bind to receptor proteins on the surfaces of hemopoietic stem cells, thereby activating intracellular signaling pathways that can cause the cells to proliferate and differentiate into a specific kind of blood cell Colony-stimulating...
s and some interleukinInterleukinInterleukins are a group of cytokines that were first seen to be expressed by white blood cells . The term interleukin derives from "as a means of communication", and "deriving from the fact that many of these proteins are produced by leukocytes and act on leukocytes"...
s that control the viability and growth of blood stem cellStem cellThis article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
s and their development into different types of mature blood cells." It noted further that his "research in the 1950's on the use of amniotic fluidAmniotic fluidAmniotic fluid or liquor amnii is the nourishing and protecting liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a pregnant woman.- Development of amniotic fluid :...
to diagnose a fetus s genetic properties has formed the basis for today's prenatal diagnosisPrenatal diagnosisPrenatal diagnosis or prenatal screening is testing for diseases or conditions in a fetus or embryo before it is born. The aim is to detect birth defects such as neural tube defects, Down syndrome, chromosome abnormalities, genetic diseases and other conditions, such as spina bifida, cleft palate,...
of human diseases." - In 1997 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
- In 1998, he was elected Foreign Member, Academia Europaea;
- In 1999, he was elected Member Honorary Fellow, University of Wales, Bangor;
- In 2000, he was elected Ham-Wasserman Lecture, American Society of Hematology, San Francisco;
- In 2001, he was awarded Honorary Life Membership Award, International Cytokine Society;
- In 2002, he was awarded Emet Prize for Life Sciences, Medicine and Genetics