Inside Stanford Medicine - June 8th, 2011
Ronald Davis, PhD, professor of biochemistry and of genetics, is the recipient of the 2011 Genetics Prize presented by the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, the organization announced June 8.
Davis will receive the prize — a gold medal and unrestricted $500,000 cash award — on Oct. 13 in Montreal during the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, which is being held in conjunction with the 12th International Congress of Human Genetics. He will also deliver a lecture at the conference.
Established in 2001, the award is presented to a leading scientist in recognition of groundbreaking contributions to any realm of genetics research. Davis, a pioneer in innovative biotechnologies, was chosen for his work in the development and practical application of recombinant DNA and genomic methods to biological organisms.
Davis was one of the first researchers to discover that proteins known as restriction endonucleases function as highly selective molecular scissors: Not only do they cut DNA at specific sequences, most also leave dangling complementary, single-stranded ends ripe for a matching partner. The finding, published in 1972, revolutionized the then-nascent field of recombinant DNA by allowing scientists to “mix and match” similarly cut DNA fragments.
Davis, who also serves as director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, has expanded his research focus over the subsequent years to include whole-genome sequencing and analysis. He developed a way to use short, unique DNA sequences to track the effect of single gene deletions in yeast, enabling researchers to identify the loss of deleterious deletions within a single culture. The technique also allows researchers to compare the relative prevalence of the deletions over time, and has opened the doors to a new method of drug discovery that no longer requires prior knowledge of the targeted gene’s function.
Davis is a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute and of Bio-X.
The Gruber International Prize Program honors contemporary individuals in the fields of cosmology, genetics, neuroscience, justice and women’s rights, whose work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture.
