Martin Chalfie
Encyclopedia
Martin Chalfie is an American
scientist. He is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University
, where he is also chair of the department of biological sciences. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
along with Osamu Shimomura
and Roger Y. Tsien
"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein
, GFP". He holds a Ph.D.
in neurobiology from Harvard University
.
at an early age; his paternal grandparents, Benjamin and Esther Chalfie, came to Cincinnati from Brest-Litovsk
.
He matriculated at Harvard University
in 1965, intending to be a math major, but he switched to biochemistry because it combined his interests in chemistry, math, and biology. He spent the summer after his junior year working in the laboratory of Klaus Weber
at Harvard, but "It was so disheartening to completely fail that I decided I shouldn’t be in biology." As a result, in his senior year, he completed his major and took courses in law, theater, and Russian literature.
He also competed on the swim team at Harvard and was named captain in his senior year. At the time, swimming coach Bill Brooks said, "Marty will make an excellent captain because he has the admiration of the entire team."
As captain, he won the Harold S. Ulen trophy, awarded "to a senior on the Harvard team who best demonstrates those qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, and team cooperation as exemplified by Harold S. Ulen." Following the announcement Nobel award, his freshman-year roommate observed of Chalfie, “He would always identify himself as a swimmer.”
After graduating in 1969, he worked at a variety of temporary jobs, such as selling dresses for his parents' dress manufacturing business in Chicago and teaching at Hamden Hall Country Day School
in Hamden, Connecticut
. In the summer of 1971, his research at the laboratory of Jose Zadunaisky at Yale University
resulted in his first publication. With revived confidence, he returned to Harvard for graduate studies under Robert Perlman, and received his Ph.D.
in 1977.
He conducted his postdoctoral research at the LMB
with Sidney Brenner and John Sulston, and the three published a paper in 1985 on "The Neural Circuit for Touch Sensitivity in C. elegans
". Chalfie then left the LMB in 1982 to join the faculty of Columbia University
in the department of biological sciences and continued to study C. elegans
touch mutants.
He married Tulle Hazelrigg. She later joined him on the faculty of Columbia University
. She gave him permission to cite her unpublished research in his seminal Science paper "Green Fluorescent Protein as a Marker for Gene Expression" on condition that he made coffee, cooked, and emptied the garbage nightly for a month
Chalfie and his wife had a daughter, Sarah, in July 1992.
Chalfie was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
in 2004.
He slept through the phone call from the Nobel Prize Committee. When he woke up, he knew the prize would have been announced already, so he said "Okay, who's the schnook that got the Prize this time?" And so he opened up his laptop, got to the Nobel Prize site and found out that he was the schnook!
C. elegans
to investigate aspects of nerve cell development and function. The wealth of developmental, anatomical, genetic, and molecular information available for C. elegans provides a powerful and multifaceted approach to these studies.
He has published over 200 papers of which at least 16 have over 100 citations.
He traces his work on Green fluorescent protein
to a 1988 seminar from Paul Brehm
about bioluminescent organisms: this led to some crucial experiments in 1992, detailed in his paper “Green fluorescent protein as a marker for gene expression”, which is among the 20 most-cited papers in the field of Molecular Biology & Genetics.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
scientist. He is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he is also chair of the department of biological sciences. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
along with Osamu Shimomura
Osamu Shimomura
is a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, and Professor Emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University Medical School...
and Roger Y. Tsien
Roger Y. Tsien
Roger Yonchien Tsien is a Chinese American biochemist and a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego...
"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein
Green fluorescent protein
The green fluorescent protein is a protein composed of 238 amino acid residues that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue light. Although many other marine organisms have similar green fluorescent proteins, GFP traditionally refers to the protein first isolated from the...
, GFP". He holds a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in neurobiology from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Biography
Chalfie grew up in Chicago, Illinois, son of the guitarist Eli Chalfie (1910—1996) and owner of an apparel store Vivian Chalfie (née Friedlen, 1913—2005). His maternal grandfather, Meyer L. Friedlen, immigrated to Chicago from MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
at an early age; his paternal grandparents, Benjamin and Esther Chalfie, came to Cincinnati from Brest-Litovsk
Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
.
He matriculated at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1965, intending to be a math major, but he switched to biochemistry because it combined his interests in chemistry, math, and biology. He spent the summer after his junior year working in the laboratory of Klaus Weber
Klaus Weber
Klaus Weber is a German scientist who has made many fundamentally important contributions to Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Molecular Biology, and was for many years the director of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen,...
at Harvard, but "It was so disheartening to completely fail that I decided I shouldn’t be in biology." As a result, in his senior year, he completed his major and took courses in law, theater, and Russian literature.
He also competed on the swim team at Harvard and was named captain in his senior year. At the time, swimming coach Bill Brooks said, "Marty will make an excellent captain because he has the admiration of the entire team."
As captain, he won the Harold S. Ulen trophy, awarded "to a senior on the Harvard team who best demonstrates those qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, and team cooperation as exemplified by Harold S. Ulen." Following the announcement Nobel award, his freshman-year roommate observed of Chalfie, “He would always identify himself as a swimmer.”
After graduating in 1969, he worked at a variety of temporary jobs, such as selling dresses for his parents' dress manufacturing business in Chicago and teaching at Hamden Hall Country Day School
Hamden Hall Country Day School
Hamden Hall Country Day School is a coeducational private day school in Hamden, Connecticut, offering classes from PreSchool through Grade 12. Hamden Hall was founded in 1912 as an elementary day school for boys by Dr. John P. Cushing, its first Headmaster. The school has been coeducational since...
in Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
. In the summer of 1971, his research at the laboratory of Jose Zadunaisky at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
resulted in his first publication. With revived confidence, he returned to Harvard for graduate studies under Robert Perlman, and received his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1977.
He conducted his postdoctoral research at the LMB
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology is a research institute in Cambridge, England, which was at the forefront of the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s, since then it remains a major medical research laboratory with a much broader focus.-Early beginnings: 1947-61:Max...
with Sidney Brenner and John Sulston, and the three published a paper in 1985 on "The Neural Circuit for Touch Sensitivity in C. elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
". Chalfie then left the LMB in 1982 to join the faculty of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in the department of biological sciences and continued to study C. elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
touch mutants.
He married Tulle Hazelrigg. She later joined him on the faculty of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. She gave him permission to cite her unpublished research in his seminal Science paper "Green Fluorescent Protein as a Marker for Gene Expression" on condition that he made coffee, cooked, and emptied the garbage nightly for a month
Chalfie and his wife had a daughter, Sarah, in July 1992.
Chalfie was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The 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...
in 2004.
He slept through the phone call from the Nobel Prize Committee. When he woke up, he knew the prize would have been announced already, so he said "Okay, who's the schnook that got the Prize this time?" And so he opened up his laptop, got to the Nobel Prize site and found out that he was the schnook!
Scientific work
Chalfie's lab uses the nematodeNematode
The nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...
C. elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
to investigate aspects of nerve cell development and function. The wealth of developmental, anatomical, genetic, and molecular information available for C. elegans provides a powerful and multifaceted approach to these studies.
He has published over 200 papers of which at least 16 have over 100 citations.
He traces his work on Green fluorescent protein
Green fluorescent protein
The green fluorescent protein is a protein composed of 238 amino acid residues that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue light. Although many other marine organisms have similar green fluorescent proteins, GFP traditionally refers to the protein first isolated from the...
to a 1988 seminar from Paul Brehm
Paul Brehm
Paul Brehm is a researcher at the Vollum Institute at Oregon Health and Science University. He was formerly at Stony Brook University and played a key role in stimulating Martin Chalfie to work on Green fluorescent protein for which Chalfie shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008.-Biography:He...
about bioluminescent organisms: this led to some crucial experiments in 1992, detailed in his paper “Green fluorescent protein as a marker for gene expression”, which is among the 20 most-cited papers in the field of Molecular Biology & Genetics.