Ahmet Yıldız (born 1979 in Sakarya, Turkey) is an American Turkish academic. He is currently a professor of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

and

molecular cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. He has contributed significantly to the understanding of transport within cells, in particular how

motor protein Motor proteins are a class of molecular motors that can move along the cytoplasm of cells. They convert chemical energy into mechanical work by the hydrolysis of ATP. Flagellar rotation, however, is powered by a proton pump. Cellular function ...

s walk along filaments. He received a B.S. in physics from

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and t ...

, Istanbul, in 2001, followed by a Ph.D. from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

in 2006. After postdoctoral work with Prof. Ron Vale at

UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

he joined the faculty of

in 2008. In 2003 Yildiz received the Foresight Distinguished Student Award for his study of the motion of the molecular motor myosin V. According to the Foresight Institute: "The Distinguished Student Award recognizes the college graduate or undergraduate student whose work is deemed most notable in advancing the development and understanding of molecular

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal ...

." The award was presented during the Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology, October 10–12, 2003, in San Francisco. The Foresight Institute Distinguished Student Award was created in 1997, and is awarded annually. Yildiz was awarded the 2005 GE & ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

'' Prize for Young Life Scientists. Yildiz currently teaches physics at

References

External links

Foresight Award notice

"Molecular motor Myosin VI moves ’hand over hand’, researchers say" by James E. Kloeppel
(accessed 13 January 2003) ("Myosin VI is a molecular motor that walks 'backwards' on filaments of actin.") **According to Google Scholar, the paper has been cited 1427 times.
"Myosin V Walks Hand-Over-Hand: Single Fluorophore Imaging with 1.5-nm Localization"
by Ahmet Yildiz, Joseph N. Forkey, Sean A. McKinney, Taekjip Ha, Yale E. Goldman, and Paul R. Selvin in ''Science'' (27 June 2003: Vol. 300. no. 5628, pp. 2061 – 2065)
Full PDF version of "Myosin V Walks..." paper

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research news, December 19, 2003.
"Kinesin Walks Hand-Over-Hand"
by Ahmet Yildiz, Michio Tomishige, Ronald D. Vale, and Paul R. Selvin. (''Science'' 30 January 2004: Vol. 303. no. 5658, pp. 676 – 678)
Young Scientist of the year award winner 2006
Turkish scientist's discovery of how proteins work Turkish scientists Turkish physicists Turkish molecular biologists Turkish academics Living people University of California, Berkeley faculty 1979 births American people of Turkish descent {{Turkey-scientist-stub