Graduate Wins Nobel Prize

Using a tiny worm as his guide, H. Robert Horvitz, who got his masters and doctorate at Harvard University in 1974, found his way to the Nobel Prize in medicine this Monday.

His two decade study of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans led to the discovery of four proteins governing cell lineage, cell signaling and cell death—breakthrough findings that could have broad implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

“It’s pretty much in the pantheon of great discoveries in the field,” Marc W. Kirschner, head of the department of cell biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), told the Boston Globe Monday.

Horvitz shared the award with two British researchers, his former mentor Sydney Brenner and longtime collaborator John E. Sulston.

Since the genes the team discovered are ubiquitous to all life, the findings impact the way research is conducted in many realms of science, including that of human diseases.

Drug companies are already using these advances to create treatments for cancer.

In addition, the trio hopes their findings will lead to the means of stopping the premature death of other cells, helping those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and other neuro-degenerative disorders.

Though the Nobel managed to surprise Horvitz while he was vacationing in the French Alps, his friends at Harvard said they were far from shocked.

HMS’ Higginson Professor of Cell Biology Howard Green, who knew Horvitz since he began his current career as a professor at MIT over 20 years ago, described the Nobel laureate as “quiet, very diligent, very active, hardworking and serious.”

“He did some excellent work,” Higginson said. “I’m not at all surprised.”

Junying Yuan, a former graduate student of Horvitz and a HMS cell biologist, said she had predicted great things for Horvitz.

“I told him a long time ago that he’d win,” Yuan said.