Michael Grunstein

{{Short description|Biologist and academic (1946–2024)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Michael Grunstein

| image = mgrunstein.jpg

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| caption = Grunstein in 2006

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1946|08|30}}

| birth_place = Romania

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|02|18|1946|08|30}}

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| fields = Biological Chemistry

| workplaces = David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

| alma_mater = McGill University
University of Edinburgh

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| awards = Massry Prize (2003),
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2018),
Albany Medical Center Prize (2022)

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Michael Grunstein (August 30, 1946 – February 18, 2024) was a Romanian-born American biologist and academic who was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Chemistry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Morber | first1 = J. R.

| title = Profile of Michael Grunstein

| doi = 10.1073/pnas.1116909108

| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

| volume = 108

| issue = 46

| pages = 18597–18599

| year = 2011

| pmid = 22084101

| pmc = 3219104

| bibcode = 2011PNAS..10818597M

| doi-access = free

}}{{cite web |url=http://people.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=45862 |title=Michael Grunstein, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor, Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA |format= |website= |accessdate=2011-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415144107/http://people.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=45862 |archive-date=2012-04-15 |url-status=dead }}

The only surviving child of Holocaust survivors,{{Cite journal| volume = 108 | issue = 46 | pages = 18597–18599 | last = Morber | first = Jenny Ruth | title = Profile of Michael Grunstein | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | year = 2011 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1116909108 | pmid=22084101 | pmc=3219104| bibcode = 2011PNAS..10818597M | doi-access = free }} he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University in Montreal, and his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He did his post-doctoral training at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he invented the colony hybridization screening technique for recombinant DNAs in David Hogness' laboratory.{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1073/pnas.72.10.3961

| last1 = Grunstein | first1 = M.

| last2 = Hogness | first2 = D. S.

| title = Colony hybridization: A method for the isolation of cloned DNAs that contain a specific gene

| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

| volume = 72

| issue = 10

| pages = 3961–3965

| year = 1975

| pmid = 1105573

| pmc = 433117

| bibcode = 1975PNAS...72.3961G | doi-access = free }}

After coming to UCLA in 1975, Grunstein pioneered the genetic analysis of histones in yeast and showed for the first time that histones are regulators of gene activity in living cells.{{cite journal |last1=Han |first1=M. |last2=Grunstein |first2=M. |title=Nucleosome Loss Activates Yeast Downstream Promoters in Vivo |journal=Cell |date=23 December 1988 |volume=55 |issue=6 |pages=1137–1145|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(88)90258-9 |pmid=2849508 |s2cid=41520634 }} confirming the previous demonstration of the regulation of transcription by histones in vitro {{cite journal |last1=Lorch |first1=Y. |last2=LaPointe |first2=J. |last3=Kornberg |first3=R. |title=Nucleosomes Inhibit the Initiation of Transcription but Allow Chain Elongation with the Displacement of Histones |journal=Cell |date=24 April 1987 |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=203–210|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(87)90561-7 |pmid=3568125 |s2cid=21270171 |doi-access=free }} His laboratory's studies provided inspiration for the eukaryotic histone code and underlie the modern study of epigenetics. His work, which "catapulted the field forward", was recognized in 2018 with the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.{{cite web |last1=Grunstein |first1=Michael |title=2018 Lasker Awards for Basic Medical Research |url=http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/show/histone-modifications-and-gene-expression/ |accessdate=24 November 2018}}

Grunstein died on February 18, 2024, at the age of 77.{{cite web |title=Michael Grunstein |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20014919.html |website=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=21 February 2024}}