2022 RNA Society Lifetime Achievement in Science Award Winner
Posted on March 5, 2022

Dr. Gideon Dreyfuss, the Isaac Norris Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is recognized for his seminal discoveries on RNA binding proteins. Gideon's name is immediately linked in the minds of RNA biologists to the discovery of the hnRNP protein family and their impact on every aspect of the life of RNA molecules. Gideon's work was also instrumental in deciphering the role of RNA binding proteins in human disease. Namely, the Dreyfuss lab pioneered the discovery and role of the SMN complex on snRNP biogenesis and its implications on Spinal Muscular Atrophy. More recently, the Dreyfuss lab discovered U1 snRNP telescripting and its role in gene transcription, cancer cell proliferation and cellular activation in the nervous and immune system. In addition to his scientific contributions, Gideon can be categorized as one of the most influential RNA scientists of his generation, as illustrated by the long list of stellar scientists whom he trained in his lab, including Narry Kim, Maurice Swanson, Mikiko Siomi, Haruhiko Siomi, Utz Fischer, Livio Pellizoni,  Matthias Görlach, Michael Matunis, Erika Matunis, Christopher Burd, Naoyuki Kataoka, Megerditch Kiledjian, Jeongsik Yong, Daisuke Kaida, Pilong Li, Ihab Younis, and Zissimos Mourelatos, to name just a few. For his immense contributions to RNA science and the training of the next generation of RNA scientists, we celebrate Gideon Dreyfuss with the 2022 RNA Society Lifetime Achieve-ment in Science Award.

Dr. Dreyfuss received his BSc in chemistry and physics from the Hebrew University, MSc in biochemistry from Tel Aviv University, and PhD in biological chemistry from Harvard University in 1978. He was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow at MIT and became an Assistant Professor in the department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology at Northwestern University in 1981, and a Professor and Established Investigator of the American Heart Association in 1987. In 1990 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1990 to 2021. Dr. Dreyfuss is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the European Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.