David S. Eisenberg (born 15 March 1939) is an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

best known for his contributions to

structural biology Structural biology deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every level of organization. Early structural biologists throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries we ...

and computational

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

. He has been a professor at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

since the early 1970s and was director of the UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics &

Proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital macromolecules of all living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replicatio ...

, as well as a member of the

California NanoSystems Institute The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is an integrated research center operating jointly at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Its missions are to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for discoveries in nanosystems and nanotechnology; train the ...

(CNSI) at UCLA.

Education

Eisenberg attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and graduated in 1961 with an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences. He went on to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where he was awarded a D.Phil in 1965 for research supervised by

Charles Coulson Charles Alfred Coulson (13 December 1910 – 7 January 1974) was a British applied mathematician and theoretical chemist. Coulson's major scientific work was as a pioneer of the application of the quantum theory of valency to problems of ...

Research

Eisenberg's current research focuses on the structural biology of

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of typically 7–13 nm in diameter, a β-sheet secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the human ...

ogenic proteins, while his computational efforts largely center on the development of

bioinformatic Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divi ...

/proteomic methodologies for elucidation and analysis of protein interaction networks. His research group hosts the Database of Interacting Proteins.

Career

Postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

(1964–1966; with Walter Kauzmann) *Postdoctoral research,

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

(1966–1969; with Richard E. Dickerson) * Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA, USA (1969–Present) * Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry,

UCLA Medical School The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of Califor ...

* Director, UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics & Proteomics (1993–2014) * Member, California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), UCLA * Investigator,

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

(2001–Present)

Awards

He was the recipient of

Harvey Prize The Harvey Prize is an annual Israeli award for breakthroughs in science and technology, as well as contributions to peace in the Middle East granted by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Technion in Haifa. The prize has become a ...

(Human Health) 2008 in recognition of his contributions in unfolding the structure of

fibrils Fibrils () are structural biological materials found in nearly all living organisms. Not to be confused with fibers or filaments, fibrils tend to have diameters ranging from 10 to 100 nanometers (whereas fibers are micro to milli-scale stru ...

. The award was presented to him at a ceremony that took place on March 23, 2009 at the Technion. This recently recognized protein state provides opportunities to understand cells in health and disease. * 1961 - L.J. Henderson Prize * 1958-1960 -

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

Honorary Scholarships * 1961-1964 -

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

* 1972-1977 -

USPHS The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant se ...

Career Development Award * 1975 - UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award * 1982 - McCoy Award of the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for innovative research * 1989 - Member,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

(Biophysics & Computational Biology section) * 1992 - Pierce Award of the Immunotoxin Society * 1996 - Protein Society Stein & Moore Award * 1998 - American Chemical Society

Repligen Corporation Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes The Repligen Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes was established in 1985 and consists of a silver medal and honorarium. Its purpose is to acknowledge and encourage outstanding contributions to the understanding of the chemistry of biological ...

* 2000 - Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute * 2000 -

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...

Award of the Protein Society * 2001 - Fellow,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

*2003 - Member,

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

* 2004 - UCLA

Glenn T. Seaborg Medal The Glenn T. Seaborg Medal was first awarded in 1987 by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry to Nobel Prize–winning chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, a UCLA alumnus. The purpose of the award is to hono ...

* 2005 - Harvard University's Westheimer Medal * 2008 - ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry (as preceptor, student was Rebecca Anne Nelson) * 2013 - ISCB (

International Society for Computational Biology The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is a scholarly society for researchers in computational biology and bioinformatics. The society was founded in 1997 to provide a stable financial home for the Intelligent Systems for Mo ...

) Senior Scientist Award * 2020 -

Passano Award The Passano Foundation, established in 1945, provides an annual award to a research scientist whose work – done in the United States – is thought to have immediate practical benefits. Many Passano laureates have subsequently won the Nobel Priz ...

Passano Award 2020
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenberg, David 1939 births Living people Harvard University alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators American biophysicists Jewish American scientists University of California, Los Angeles faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the International Society for Computational Biology Members of the American Philosophical Society 21st-century American Jews Members of the National Academy of Medicine Structural biologists