Marc Kirschner

Kirschner was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 28, 1945. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in chemistry in 1966. He participated in the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program at the National Science Foundation in 1966, and earned a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971.{{Cite web|url=https://kirschner.hms.harvard.edu/people/marc-kirschner|title = Marc W. Kirschner Ph.D. | Kirschner Lab}}

He held postdoctoral positions at University of California, Berkeley and at the University of Oxford in England. He became assistant professor at Princeton University in 1972. In 1978 he was made professor at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1993, he moved to Harvard Medical School, where he served as the chair of the new Department of Cell Biology for a decade. He became the founding chair of the HMS Department of Systems Biology in 2003. He was named the John Franklin Enders University Professor in 2009.Ireland C [http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/07/universityprofessors/ "Kirschner and King named University Professors"] Harvard Gazette, 23 July 2009 (retrieved 16 May 2012) In 2018, he was succeeded as Chair of the Department of Systems Biology by Galit Lahav.Jiang K [https://hms.harvard.edu/news/new-systems-bio-chair-named "New Systems Bio Chair named"] Harvard Medical School News, April 16, 2018 (retrieved 6 June 2018)

Kirschner studies how cells divide, how they generate their shape, how they control their size, and how embryos develop. In his eclectic lab, developmental work on the frog coexists with biochemical work on mechanism of ubiquitination, cytoskeleton assembly or signal transduction.

At Princeton, his early work on microtubules established their unusual molecular assembly from tubulin proteins and identified the first microtubule-stabilizing protein tau,{{Cite journal|pmc=432646|year=1975|last1=Weingarten|first1=MD|last2=Lockwood|first2=AH|last3=Hwo|first3=SY|last4=Kirschner|first4=MW|title=A protein factor essential for microtubule assembly|volume=72|issue=5|pages=1858–1862|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|doi=10.1073/pnas.72.5.1858|pmid=1057175|bibcode=1975PNAS...72.1858W|doi-access=free}} later shown to be a major component of the neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease. In studies at UC San Francisco of the frog embryo as a model system of cell development, Kirschner identified the first inducer of embryonic differentiation, fibroblast growth factor (FGF),{{cite journal|pmid=3194757|year=1988|last1=Kimelman|first1=D|title=The presence of fibroblast growth factor in the frog egg: Its role as a natural mesoderm inducer|journal=Science |volume=242|issue=4881|pages=1053–6|last2=Abraham|first2=J. A|last3=Haaparanta|first3=T|last4=Palisi|first4=T. M|last5=Kirschner|first5=M. W|doi=10.1126/science.3194757|bibcode=1988Sci...242.1053K}} an early finding in the field of signal transduction.

Kirschner's lab is also known for uncovering basic mechanisms of the cell cycle in eukaryotic cells. Working in Xenopus (frog) egg extracts, Kirschner and Andrew Murray showed that cyclin synthesis drives the cell cycle Pulverer, Bernd [http://www.nature.com/celldivision/milestones/full/milestone12.html "Milestones in cell division (12): Surfing the cyclin wave"] Nature Publishing Group (retrieved 16 May 2012) and, later, that ubiquitin regulates levels of cyclin by marking the cell-cycle molecule for destruction.Brooksbank, Cath [http://www.nature.com/celldivision/milestones/full/milestone20.html "Milestones in cell division (20): Disappearing Act"] Nature Publishing Group (retrieved 16 May 2012) His lab discovered and purified many of the components involved in cell cycle progression, including anaphase promoting complex (APC), the complex that ubiquitinates cyclin B.{{Cite journal |year=1995|last1=King|first1=RW|last2=Peters|first2=JM|last3=Tugendreich|first3=S|last4=Rolfe|first4=M|last5=Heiter|first5=P|last6=Kirschner|first6=MW|title=A 20S complex containing CDC27 and CDC16 catalyzes the mitosis-specific conjugation of ubiquitin to cyclin B|volume=81|issue=2|pages=279–88|journal=Cell|pmid=7736580|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(95)90338-0|s2cid=16958690|doi-access=free}}

A second notedLewin, B [http://bioscience.jbpub.com/cells/EXP93.aspx "Great experiments: Dynamic instability of microtubules - Marc Kirschner and Tim Mitchison"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017121343/http://bioscience.jbpub.com/cells/EXP93.aspx |date=2013-10-17 }}, CELLS! The web site accompanying the Cells textbook (Jones and Bartlett Publishers (2007) finding was his discovery, with Tim Mitchison, of the dynamic instability of microtubules,{{cite journal | doi = 10.1038/nrm2584 | volume=9 | title=Key instability | year=2010 | journal=Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology | pages=s14–s15 | last1 = Le Bot | first1 = Nathalie| doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal|pmc=44060|year=1994|last1=Holy|first1=TE|last2=Leibler|first2=S|title=Dynamic instability of microtubules as an efficient way to search in space|volume=91|issue=12|pages=5682–5685|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|doi=10.1073/pnas.91.12.5682|pmid=8202548|bibcode=1994PNAS...91.5682H|doi-access=free}} In mitosis, for example, microtubules form the spindle that separates the chromosomes. The first step in spindle formation is the nucleation of microtubules by microtubule-organizing centers, which then grow in all directions. Microtubules that attach to a chromosome are stabilized and are therefore retained to form part of the spindle. Because of dynamic instability, some individual microtubules that are not stabilized are at risk of collapse (or “catastrophe” as Kirschner named it), allowing re-use of the tubulin monomers. This recognition of self-organization in biological systems has been highly influential, and helped shape the view of the cytoplasm as a collection of dynamic molecular machines.{{Cite book |author= |date=April 20, 2001 |title=Kirschner Wins Gairdner International Award |chapter=Achievements |periodical=Focus |publisher=Harvard University |chapter-url=http://archives.focus.hms.harvard.edu/2001/Apr20_2001/achievements.html |accessdate=16 May 2012 |archive-date=8 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708195520/http://archives.focus.hms.harvard.edu/2001/Apr20_2001/achievements.html |url-status=dead }}

Kirschner is also interested in the evolutionary origins of the vertebrate body plan. Together with John Gerhart, he was instrumental in developing the acorn worm Saccoglossus kowalevskii into a model system{{Citation|last1=Lowe|first1=Christopher J.|title=Development of Sea Urchins, Ascidians, and Other Invertebrate Deuterostomes: Experimental Approaches|date=2004|series=Methods in Cell Biology|volume=74|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780124802780/page/171 171–194]|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/s0091-679x(04)74008-x|pmid=15575607|isbn=9780124802780|last2=Tagawa|first2=Kuni|last3=Humphreys|first3=Tom|last4=Kirschner|first4=Marc|last5=Gerhart|first5=John|chapter=Hemichordate Embryos: Procurement, Culture, and Basic Methods |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780124802780/page/171}} that could be used to study the divergence between hemichordates and chordates, and the evolution of the chordate nervous system.{{Cite journal|last=Tautz|first=Diethard|date=2003|title=Chordate Evolution in a New Light|journal=Cell|volume=113|issue=7|pages=812–813|doi=10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00472-0|pmid=12837236|s2cid=11562638|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Lowe|first1=Christopher J|last2=Wu|first2=Mike|last3=Salic|first3=Adrian|last4=Evans|first4=Louise|last5=Lander|first5=Eric|last6=Stange-Thomann|first6=Nicole|last7=Gruber|first7=Christian E|last8=Gerhart|first8=John|last9=Kirschner|first9=Marc|date=2003|title=Anteroposterior Patterning in Hemichordates and the Origins of the Chordate Nervous System|journal=Cell|volume=113|issue=7|pages=853–865|doi=10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00469-0|pmid=12837244|s2cid=18009831|doi-access=free}}

Kirschner is a pioneer in using mathematical approaches to learn about central biological questions. For example, a model of the Wnt pathway he developed in collaboration with the late Reinhart Heinrich showed that new properties and constraints emerge when the individual biochemical steps are combined into a complete pathway.{{Cite journal|doi=10.1038/444700a|title=Obituary: Reinhart Heinrich (1946–2006)|year=2006|last1=Kirschner|first1=Marc W.|journal=Nature|volume=444|issue=7120|pages=700|pmid=17151654|bibcode=2006Natur.444..700K|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Ethan|last2=Salic|first2=Adrian|last3=Krüger|first3=Roland|last4=Heinrich|first4=Reinhart|last5=Kirschner|first5=Marc W|date=2003-10-13|editor-last=Roel Nusse|title=The Roles of APC and Axin Derived from Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of the Wnt Pathway|journal=PLOS Biology|volume=1|issue=1|pages=e10|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0000010|issn=1545-7885|pmc=212691|pmid=14551908 |doi-access=free }} A talk he gave on mathematics and the future of medicine at a retreat for Department Chairs at Harvard Medical School in 2003 inspired the Dean, Joseph B. Martin, to found a new Department, the Department of Systems Biology, with Kirschner as founding chair. Since then, Kirschner's lab has attracted many students and post-docs from theoretical backgrounds who wish to make the transition into biology. His lab is now a leader in using mathematical tools to analyze signaling pathways,{{cite journal|last1=Hernández|first1=AR|last2=Klein|first2=AM|last3=Kirschner|first3=MW|title=Kinetic responses of β-catenin specify the sites of Wnt control|journal=Science|date=Dec 7, 2012|volume=338|issue=6112|pages=1337–1340|doi=10.1126/science.1228734|pmid=23138978|bibcode=2012Sci...338.1337H|s2cid=3470717}} cell size control,{{cite journal|last1=Kafri|first1=R|last2=Levy|first2=J|last3=Ginzberg|first3=MB|last4=Oh|first4=S|last5=Lahav|first5=G|last6=Kirschner|first6=MW|title=Dynamics extracted from fixed cells reveal feedback linking cell growth to cell cycle|journal=Nature|date=Feb 28, 2013|volume=494|issue=7438|pages=480–483|doi=10.1038/nature11897|pmid=23446419|pmc=3730528|bibcode=2013Natur.494..480K}} and the selectivity of drugs.{{cite journal|last1=Gujral|first1=TS|last2=Peshkin|first2=L|last3=Kirschner|first3=MW|title=Exploiting polypharmacology for drug target deconvolution|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.|date=April 1, 2014|volume=111|issue=13|pages=5048–53|doi=10.1073/pnas.1403080111|pmid=24707051|pmc=3977247|bibcode=2014PNAS..111.5048G|doi-access=free}}

In two books co-authored with John Gerhart, Kirschner has described the cellular and developmental underpinnings of the evolution of organisms, and the concept of "evolvability".{{cite journal |journal=BMC Biology|title=Beyond Darwin: Evolvability and the generation of novelty|date=7 November 2013|volume=11|pages=110|pmid=24228732|pmc=4225857|last1=Kirschner|first1=M|doi=10.1186/1741-7007-11-110 |doi-access=free }} In the most recent book, Kirschner and Gerhart proposed a new theory of "facilitated variation" that aims to answer the question: How can small, random genetic changes be converted into useful changes in complex body parts? {{Cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000206|title=Facilitated Variation: How Evolution Learns from Past Environments to Generalize to New Environments|year=2008|editor1-last=Stormo|editor1-first=Gary|last1=Parter|first1=Merav|last2=Kashtan|first2=Nadav|last3=Alon|first3=Uri|journal=PLOS Computational Biology|volume=4|issue=11|pages=e1000206|pmid=18989390|pmc=2563028|bibcode=2008PLSCB...4E0206P |doi-access=free }}

Kirschner has been an advocate for federal biomedical research funding and served as first chair of the Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy, a coalition of scientific societies he helped create in 1993 to educate the U.S. Congress on biomedical research and lobby for public funding of it.[http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director/speeches/microbiology-meeting-1994 Speech for the American Society for Microbiology National Meeting] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531223409/http://cancer.gov/aboutnci/director/speeches/microbiology-meeting-1994 |date=2012-05-31 }} by Harold Varmus, director of the National Institutes of Health, New Orleans, 11 December 1993 (retrieved 16 May 2012). In 2014, Kirschner (together with Bruce Alberts, Shirley Tilghman and Harold Varmus) called for a number of changes to the system of US biomedical science, with the intention of reducing "hypercompetition"{{cite journal|last1=Alberts|first1=B|last2=Kirschner|first2=MW|last3=Tilghman|first3=S|last4=Varmus|first4=H|title=Rescuing US biomedical research from its systemic flaws|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.|date=April 22, 2014|volume=111|issue=16|pages=5773–5777|doi=10.1073/pnas.1404402111|pmid=24733905|pmc=4000813|bibcode=2014PNAS..111.5773A|doi-access=free}} This publication led to the formation of an organization, Rescuing Biomedical Research, that aims to collect community input and propose changes to the structure of academic science in the USA.{{cite web | url =https://brucealberts.ucsf.edu/current-projects/rescuing-biomedical-research/| title =Rescuing Biomedical Research (RBR) | last=|first=|date = August 17, 2016| publisher =UCSF Bruce Alberts, PHD}}

Kirschner helped launch the monthly, peer-reviewed journal PLoS Biology in October 2003 as a member of the editorial board and senior author of a paper in the inaugural issue. The journal was the first publishing venture from the San Francisco-based Public Library of Science (PLoS), which had begun three years previously as a grassroots organization of scientists advocating free and unrestricted access to the scientific literature{{Citation |last=Reynolds |first=Tom |date=24 October 2003 |title=Publishing: Online Journal Opens Access to Scientific Literature |periodical=Focus |publisher=Harvard University |url=http://archives.focus.hms.harvard.edu/2003/Oct24_2003/publishing.html |accessdate=16 May 2012 |archive-date=20 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120194354/http://archives.focus.hms.harvard.edu/2003/Oct24_2003/publishing.html |url-status=dead }}

• with [http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/CDB/gerhartj.html John Gerhart], Cells, Embryos, and Evolution: Toward a Cellular and Developmental Understanding of Phenotypic Variation and Evolutionary Adaptability (Blackwell's, 1997) {{ISBN|0-86542-574-4}}
• with [http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/CDB/gerhartj.html John Gerhart], The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma ([http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300108656]Yale University Press 2005) {{ISBN|0-300-10865-6}}

• 1989–present - Member, National Academy of Sciences
• 1989–present - Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences[http://www.amacad.org/members.aspx AAAS member lists in PDF]
• 1990-1991 - President, American Society for Cell Biology
• 1991 - Richard Lounsbery Award
• 1996 - Public Service Award, American Society for Cell Biology
• 1999–present - Foreign Member, Royal Society of London
• 1999–present - Foreign Member, Academia Europaea
• 2000 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Sciences, University of Chicago {{cite web | url=https://convocation.uchicago.edu/traditions/honorary-degree-recipients/past-honorary-degree-recipients/ | title=Past Honorary Degree Recipients | Convocation | the University of Chicago }}
• 2001 - William C. Rose Award, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• 2001 - Gairdner Foundation International Award (Canada)[https://archive.today/20120713002713/http://old.gairdner.org/awardrecipients/awardees2/20071998/2001awarde/marckirsch Archived award citation]
• 2003 - Rabbi Shai Shacknai Memorial Prize in Immunology and Cancer Research, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
• 2003 - E.B. Wilson Medal, American Society for Cell Biology (the ASCB's highest honor)
• 2004 - Dickson Prize for Science, Carnegie Mellon University{{Cite web |url=http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases04/040303_dickson.html |title=CMU press release, 3 March 2004 |access-date=2012-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205808/http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases04/040303_dickson.html |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead }}
• 2015 - Harvey Prize, Technion Institute, Israel.[http://www.technion.ac.il/en/# Harvey Prize 2015]
• 2023 - Honorary PhD, Rockefeller University. {{cite web | url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/events-and-lectures/convocation-noslideshow/marc-kirschner/#: | title=Marc W. Kirschner, Ph.D. }}

{{reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120317100028/https://sysbio.med.harvard.edu/faculty/marc-w-kirschner/ Marc W. Kirschner, Ph.D., (Faculty page)], Harvard Department of Systems Biology.
• [http://pubget.com/profile/author/Kirschner%20MW Marc Kirschner] scientific publications list on Pubget.
• {{cite journal | doi = 10.1091/mbc.E10-04-0343 | volume=21 | title=Cell Biology as a World View | year=2010 | journal=Molecular Biology of the Cell | page=3803 | last1 = Kirschner | first1 = M.| issue=22 | pmid=21079019 | pmc=2982097 }}.
• [https://www.ibiology.org/development-and-stem-cells/hemichordates/ Marc W. Kirschner's Seminar: "The Origin of Vertebrates"]
• [http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?14078 Video: "Systems questions in cell biology"], NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series, 17 October 2007. (Audio podcast also available.)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091106153134/http://forum-network.org/speaker/marc-kirschner Video: Lecture on evolution] in Cambridge, Mass., 30 November 2005 taped by WGBH Forum Network. (Includes explanation of "facilitated variation.")
• [http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/marc-kirschner-and-john-gerhart Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart: An email interview] by Gregg Ross on American Scientist Online, November 2005.
• [http://onpoint.wbur.org/2005/10/18/resolving-darwins-dilemma Audio: Marc Kirschner interview in "Resolving Darwin's dilemma,"] On Point radio show at WBUR Boston, 18 October 2005.
• [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/may/11/evolving-evolution Plausibility of Life discussed in "Evolving Evolution,"] by Israel Rosenfield and Edward Ziff, New York Review of Books, 11 May 2006
• [http://rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org/ Rescuing Biomedical Research website]

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Category:21st-century American biologists

Category:Jewish American scientists

Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society

Category:Living people

Category:Members of Academia Europaea

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Northwestern University alumni

Category:American systems biologists

Category:University of California, San Francisco faculty

Category:1945 births

Category:Extended evolutionary synthesis

Category:Harvard Medical School faculty

Category:Richard-Lounsbery Award laureates

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society

Category:21st-century American Jews