Michel E. Goldberg is a French

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 ...

who specialized in the study of

protein folding Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein, after Protein biosynthesis, synthesis by a ribosome as a linear chain of Amino acid, amino acids, changes from an unstable random coil into a more ordered protein tertiary structure, t ...

and aggregation. He spent most of his scientific career at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

, becoming a laboratory head in 1972 and serving as the Scientific Director from 1976 to 1979. He also held a variety of roles with the Pasteur-Weizmann Council, a partnership between the Pasteur Institute in France and the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

in Israel. Goldberg retired in 2005.

Early life and education

Goldberg was born in France in 1938 to parents of

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

descent. As a result of the anti-Jewish policies adopted by the

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

government in 1940, his family sold their businesses and went into hiding, for a time sending Michel and his brother to live with acquaintances hidden in the countryside in southern France. The family was reunited after the end of the German occupation; Goldberg later recalled being deeply affected by the Holocaust survivors his parents helped to house and support after the end of the war. Goldberg developed an interest in the then-emerging science of

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 ...

in high school. In 1959 he somewhat reluctantly entered the Ecole Polytechnique, which did not then offer much education in biology and whose graduates did not typically seek research careers. Nevertheless, Goldberg eventually secured a place in the laboratory of

Jacques Monod Jacques Lucien Monod (; 9 February 1910 – 31 May 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of e ...

, whose prominence Goldberg did not yet recognize when they first met. Goldberg served a year as a statistician in the Air Force before beginning his Ph.D. studies under Monod's supervision. During his studies Goldberg spent two years visiting

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1964 to 1966, and eventually finished his Ph.D. in 1967 with a thesis on

tryptophan synthase Tryptophan synthase or tryptophan synthetase is an enzyme () that catalyzes the final two steps in the biosynthesis of tryptophan. It is commonly found in Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, and Plantae. However, it is absent from Animal ...

Academic career

After graduation, Goldberg assumed a research fellow position at the

French National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

(CNRS), and was subsequently appointed to a professorship at

Paris University The University of Paris (), known metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated with the ca ...

, where he would remain until 1998. At the same time he continued his work at the Pasteur Institute, becoming a laboratory head in 1972 and professor in 1985. While at the Pasteur Institute, Goldberg served in a number of leadership positions; he was Scientific Director from 1976 to 1979, and held positions on a variety of institutional committees. He is credited with introducing a number of biophysical experimental techniques to other researchers at the Pasteur Institute and with establishing its scientific computing unit. He also served on the Pasteur-Weizmann Council in a variety of positions beginning in 1988, facilitating cooperation between the Pasteur Institute and the

in Israel. Although Goldberg retired in 2005, he continues to serve in advisory roles with the Pasteur-Weizmann Council and is co-president of the scientific committee for the Pasteur-Weizmann/Servier International Prize. He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of Anima Biotech, along with Barry Cooperman and

Ada Yonath Ada E. Yonath (, ; born 22 June 1939) is an Israeli crystallographer and Nobel laureate in Chemistry, best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for B ...

. Goldberg became a member of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO) in 1985. The CNRS later recognized Goldberg and Jeannine Yon as among the first to study the

problem in France.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Michel E. French biophysicists Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization 1938 births Living people