MIT Professor Receives Recognition from Fellow Cell Biologists

Professor Dr Rudolf Jaenisch was presented with the Carl Zeiss Lecture award by Dr Richard Ankerhold (Carl Zeiss) during the annual meeting of the German Association for Cell Biology (DGZ), held in the southern city of Constance, Germany. Jaenisch, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (Cambridge, USA), received the award, donated by the Carl Zeiss Microscopy Group, which is conferred annually for outstanding achievement.

Jaenisch is increasingly devoting his attention to therapeutic cloning in animal models and to stem cell research. In 2002 he was the first geneticist to prove that a genetic defect in mice can be cured by therapeutic cloning.

A specialist in epigenetics which focuses on changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence, he played a key role in the development of technologies for mammal cloning, although has spoken out publicly against the cloning of human beings.

According to Jaenisch, major obstacles attributable to epigenetic programming are repeatedly experienced in animal experiments of this type. He continues to seek answers to fundamental questions concerning embryonic development, but also to gain greater insight into the causes of cancer and other diseases.