Richard Axel

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Richard Axel

| image = Professor_Richard_Axel_ForMemRS.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Axel in 2014

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1946|7|2|mf=y}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| fields = Neuroscience

| workplaces = Columbia University

| doctoral_advisor =

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students = {{Plainlist|

| known_for =

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Richard Lounsbery Award (1989)
Perl-UNC Prize (2002)
Gairdner Foundation International Award (2003)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2004)

}}

| religion =

| signature =

| footnotes =

| spouse = Cornelia Bargmann

| website = {{URL|http://www.axellab.columbia.edu}}

| education = {{Plainlist|

Columbia University (BA)
Johns Hopkins University (MD)}}

}}

Richard Axel (born July 2, 1946) is an American molecular biologist and university professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His work on the olfactory system won him and Linda Buck, a former postdoctoral research scientist in his group, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004.

Education and early life

Born in New York City to Polish Jewish immigrants, Axel grew up in Brooklyn.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/axel|title=Laureate - Richard Axel|website=Lindau Nobel Mediatheque|date=23 October 2018 |language=en|access-date=October 25, 2019}} He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1963,{{cite journal |url=http://juno.cumc.columbia.edu/psjournal/archive/winter-2005/nobility.html |title=Richard Axel: One of the Nobility in Science |first=Robin |last=Eisner |journal=P&S |publisher=Columbia University |date=Winter 2005 |access-date=October 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601002012/http://juno.cumc.columbia.edu/psjournal/archive/winter-2005/nobility.html |archive-date=June 1, 2015 }} (along with Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Allan Lichtman, Ron Silver, and Alexander Rosenberg), received his B.A. in 1967 from Columbia University, and his M.D. in 1971 from Johns Hopkins University. However, he was poorly suited to medicine and graduated on the promise to his department chairman that he would not practice clinically.{{Cite book |last1=McFadden |first1=Johnjoe |last2=Al-Khalili |first2=Jim |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/914329162 |title=Life on the Edge : The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-307-98681-8 |edition=1st|location=New York |oclc=914329162 |pages=144–145}} He found his calling in research and returned to Columbia later that year, eventually becoming a full professor in 1978.

Research and career

File:Richard Axel.jpg

During the late 1970s, Axel, along with microbiologist Saul J. Silverstein and geneticist Michael H. Wigler, discovered a technique of cotransformation via transfection, a process which allows foreign DNA to be inserted into a host cell to produce certain proteins.{{Cite journal

| pmid = 208776

| year = 1978

| last1 = Pellicer

| first1 = A

| title = The transfer and stable integration of the HSV thymidine kinase gene into mouse cells

| journal = Cell

| volume = 14

| issue = 1

| pages = 133–41

| last2 = Wigler

| first2 = M

| last3 = Axel

| first3 = R

| last4 = Silverstein

| first4 = S

| doi=10.1016/0092-8674(78)90308-2

| s2cid = 20851317

}}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 7414320

| year = 1980

| last1 = Pellicer

| first1 = A

| title = Altering genotype and phenotype by DNA-mediated gene transfer

| journal = Science

| volume = 209

| issue = 4463

| pages = 1414–22

| last2 = Robins

| first2 = D

| last3 = Wold

| first3 = B

| last4 = Sweet

| first4 = R

| last5 = Jackson

| first5 = J

| last6 = Lowy

| first6 = I

| last7 = Roberts

| first7 = J. M.

| last8 = Sim

| first8 = G. K.

| last9 = Silverstein

| first9 = S

| last10 = Axel

| first10 = R

| doi=10.1126/science.7414320

| bibcode = 1980Sci...209.1414P

}}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 222468

| year = 1979

| last1 = Wigler

| first1 = M

| title = Transformation of mammalian cells with genes from procaryotes and eucaryotes

| journal = Cell

| volume = 16

| issue = 4

| pages = 777–85

| last2 = Sweet

| first2 = R

| last3 = Sim

| first3 = G. K.

| last4 = Wold

| first4 = B

| last5 = Pellicer

| first5 = A

| last6 = Lacy

| first6 = E

| last7 = Maniatis

| first7 = T

| last8 = Silverstein

| first8 = S

| last9 = Axel

| first9 = R

| doi=10.1016/0092-8674(79)90093-x

| s2cid = 25495031

}}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 286319

| pmc = 383253

| year = 1979

| last1 = Wigler

| first1 = M

| title = DNA-mediated transfer of the adenine phosphoribosyltransferase locus into mammalian cells

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

| volume = 76

| issue = 3

| pages = 1373–6

| last2 = Pellicer

| first2 = A

| last3 = Silverstein

| first3 = S

| last4 = Axel

| first4 = R

| last5 = Urlaub

| first5 = G

| last6 = Chasin

| first6 = L

| doi=10.1073/pnas.76.3.1373

| bibcode = 1979PNAS...76.1373W

| doi-access = free

}}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 194704

| year = 1977

| last1 = Wigler

| first1 = M

| title = Transfer of purified herpes virus thymidine kinase gene to cultured mouse cells

| journal = Cell

| volume = 11

| issue = 1

| pages = 223–32

| last2 = Silverstein

| first2 = S

| last3 = Lee

| first3 = L. S.

| last4 = Pellicer

| first4 = A

| last5 = Cheng

| first5 = Yc

| last6 = Axel

| first6 = R

| doi=10.1016/0092-8674(77)90333-6

| s2cid = 46090608

}}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 3094962

| year = 1986

| last1 = Maddon

| first1 = P. J.

| title = The T4 gene encodes the AIDS virus receptor and is expressed in the immune system and the brain

| journal = Cell

| volume = 47

| issue = 3

| pages = 333–48

| last2 = Dalgleish

| first2 = A. G.

| last3 = McDougal

| first3 = J. S.

| last4 = Clapham

| first4 = P. R.

| last5 = Weiss

| first5 = R. A.

| last6 = Axel

| first6 = R

| doi=10.1016/0092-8674(86)90590-8

| s2cid = 20377918

}}

A family of patents, now colloquially referred to as the "Axel patents", covering this technique were filed for February 1980 and were issued in August 1983.{{Cite journal

| pmid = 19751286

| pmc = 2750841

| year = 2009

| last1 = Colaianni

| first1 = A

| title = Columbia University's Axel patents: Technology transfer and implications for the Bayh-Dole Act

| journal = Milbank Quarterly

| volume = 87

| issue = 3

| pages = 683–715

| last2 = Cook-Deegan

| first2 = R

| doi = 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2009.00575.x

}} As a fundamental process in recombinant DNA research as performed at pharmaceutical and biotech companies, this patent proved quite lucrative for Columbia University, earning it almost $100 million a year at one time, and a top spot on the list of top universities by licensing revenue. The Axel patents expired in August 2000.

In their landmark paper published in 1991,{{Cite journal

| last1 = Buck | first1 = L.

| last2 = Axel | first2 = R.

| doi = 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90418-X

| title = A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: A molecular basis for odor recognition

| journal = Cell

| volume = 65

| issue = 1

| pages = 175–187

| year = 1991

| pmid = 1840504

| doi-access = free

}} Buck and Axel cloned olfactory receptors, showing that they belong to the family of G protein coupled receptors. By analyzing rat DNA, they estimated that there were approximately one thousand different genes for olfactory receptors in the mammalian genome. This research opened the door to the genetic and molecular analysis of the mechanisms of olfaction. In their later work, Buck and Axel have shown that each olfactory receptor neuron remarkably only expresses one kind of olfactory receptor protein and that the input from all neurons expressing the same receptor is collected by a single dedicated glomerulus of the olfactory bulb.{{Cite journal

| pmid = 8929536

| year = 1996

| last1 = Mombaerts

| first1 = P

| title = Visualizing an olfactory sensory map

| journal = Cell

| volume = 87

| issue = 4

| pages = 675–86

| last2 = Wang

| first2 = F

| last3 = Dulac

| first3 = C

| last4 = Chao

| first4 = S. K.

| last5 = Nemes

| first5 = A

| last6 = Mendelsohn

| first6 = M

| last7 = Edmondson

| first7 = J

| last8 = Axel

| first8 = R

| doi=10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81387-2

| s2cid = 7999466

| doi-access = free

}}

Axel's primary research interest is on how the brain interprets the sense of smell, specifically mapping the parts of the brain that are sensitive to specific olfactory receptors. He holds the titles of University Professor at Columbia University, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Pathology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition to contributions to neurobiology, Axel has also made seminal discoveries in immunology, and his lab was one of the first to identify the link between HIV infection and immunoreceptor CD4.

In addition to making contributions as a scientist, Axel has also mentored many leading scientists in the field of neurobiology. Seven of his trainees have become members of the National Academy of Sciences, and currently six of his trainees are affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's investigator and early scientist award programs.

Awards and honors

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Axel has won numerous awards and honors. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/58107.html|title=Richard Axel|website=www.nasonline.org}} in 1983.{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 28, 2011}} In 2005, Axel received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}

Axel was awarded the Double Helix Medal in 2007. [http://doublehelixmedals.cshl.edu/history_07.html CSHL Double Helix Medal Honoree] and was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2014. His nomination reads: {{centered pull quote|Richard Axel is a distinguished molecular biologist and neuroscientist. He developed gene transfer techniques that permit the introduction of virtually any gene into any cell permitting the production of a large number of clinically important proteins and leading to the isolation of a gene for CD4, the cellular receptor for the AIDS virus, HIV. He then applied molecular biology to neuroscience revealing over a thousand genes involved in the recognition of odours, a discovery for which he shared the Nobel Prize in 2004. He currently explores how odour recognition is translated into internal representations in the brain.{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/fellowship/2014/richard-axel/ |title=Professor Richard Axel ForMemRS |publisher=The Royal Society |archive-date=December 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220120126/https://royalsociety.org/people/fellowship/2014/richard-axel/ |location=London |url-status=dead }}}}

Personal life

Axel is married to fellow scientist and olfaction pioneer Cornelia Bargmann.{{Nobelprize|accessdate=October 11, 2020}} Previously, he had been married to Ann Axel, who is a social worker at Columbia University Medical Center. Owing to his tall stature, Axel played basketball during high school.

References

External links

{{cite web|url=http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-science-studio/follow-the-the-scent-of-success-1|title=Follow the scent of success|work=The Science Network |publisher=The Science Network|access-date=June 24, 2009}}
{{Nobelprize}}
{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2004/ |access-date=June 24, 2009}} - pressrelease
{{cite web |title=Welcome to the Axel Lab |url=http://www.axellab.columbia.edu/home.php.html |publisher=Columbia University Medical Center |access-date=June 24, 2009}}
{{cite web |title=Richard Axel, M.D. |url=http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/axel_bio.html |access-date=June 24, 2009}}
{{Cite news |date=October 4, 2004 |title=Secrets of smell land Nobel Prize |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3713134.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=June 24, 2009}}
{{cite web |title=Richard Axel Patents |url=http://www.patentgenius.com/inventor/AxelRichard.html |publisher=PatentGenius |access-date=June 24, 2009}}
{{Cite news |first=Ted |last=Agres |date=July 25, 2003 |title=Columbia patents under attack |url=http://classic.the-scientist.com/news/20030725/03/ |work=The Scientist |format=subscription required |access-date=June 24, 2009}}