Research

Research Priorities: Ribosomes, protein biosynthesis, translation, crystal structure, antibiotic resistance

Structural biologist Ada Yonath is considered a pioneer for her work revealing the structure of ribosomes. In 2009, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with the British structural biologist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and the US molecular biologist Thomas A. Steitz. The Nobel Committee honoured her “studies on the structure and function of the ribosome”. Lately, her research has focused on the effects of antibiotics on ribosomes.

Ribosomes are the protein factories of the cell; they consist of hundreds of thousands of atoms, which are divided into two subunits. In protein biosynthesis, ribosomes translate genetic information into proteins, which in turn perform many tasks within an organism. Ada Yonath aimed to find out exactly how this translation process works. She used x-ray structural analysis (or crystal structure analysis) to attempt to determine the exact position of the atoms. However, irradiation with x-rays can only provide a clear picture when the irradiated structures are stable. For a long time, the analysis of ribosomes with x-rays was thought to be futile, as the ribosome crystals were not stable enough to withstand the rays.

Over decades, Ada Yonath worked to develop a method for crystallising ribosomes. She crystallised ribosomes of the thermus thermophilus bacterium, which survives in hot springs and can withstand temperatures of up to 75 degree Celsius. In order to stabilise the crystals, she placed them in a nitrogen deep-freezer. Ada Yonath was able to decode the smaller subunit of the bacterial ribosome and then depict it in a precise three-dimensional image. In the same year, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and his team succeeded in doing the same thing and Thomas Seitz published the first crystal structure of the larger subunit. The three researchers’ discoveries contribute to a better understanding of protein genesis. Their research focuses on a fundamental process of life.

Recently, Ada Yonath has focused on the effects of antibiotics; she has revealed the mechanisms of more than 20 antibiotics. Many of the antibiotic substances latch on to the bacteria’s ribosomes and inhibit these. However, the increase in antibiotic resistance is a challenge for medicine. Many substances are no longer effective. Ada Yonath and her colleagues hope that their research will contribute to the development of a new generation of antibiotics. The scientific community is in search of substances which inhibit the protein synthesis of bacterial ribosomes in a more targeted manner, incapacitate pathogens, and cause less resistance.

Career

• since 1989 Director, Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Assemblies, Weizmann Institute for Science (WIS), Rechovot, Israel
• since 1988 Professor of Structural Chemistry, WIS, Rechovot, Israel
• 1988-2004 Director, Mazer Center for Structural Biology, WIS, Rechovot, Israel
• 1986-2004 Head, Max Planck Research Unit, Hamburg, Germany
• 1984-1988 Associate Professor, Department of Structural Chemistry, WIS, Rechovot, Israel
• 1979-1983 Visiting Professor, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany
• 1977-1978 Visiting Scholar, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
• 1974-1983 Senior Scientist, Department of Structural Chemistry, WIS, Rechovot, Israel
• 1974 Visiting Professor, Dental School, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
• 1971-1978 Lecturer, University of Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Scheva, Israel
• 1970-1974 Scientist, Institute of Chemistry, WIS, Rechovot, Israel
• 1970 Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
• 1969 Postdoctoral Fellow, Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Pittsburgh, USA
• 1964-1968 PhD in X-ray crystallography, WIS, Rechovot, Israel
• 1962-1964 Master’s Degree in Biochemistry, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
• 1959-1962 Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Functions

• since 2013 Member, Scientific Advisory Board, UN Secretary-General, UNO
• 1971-1977 Advisor, The Open University of Israel, Ra'anana, Israel
• Member, Scientific Advisory Boards: EC President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council; Center of Excellence (I-CORE), Israel; Davidson Institute for Scientific Education; RNA Institute, Albany, USA; National Supreme Committee High Education; MALAG; Vision of Science, Israel
• Member, Advisory Committees: Life 2000, Finland; Biophysics and Nanosystems, Austria; The International Committees & Principal Users Groups at Synchrotron Radiation ESRF, France; APS/Argonne Nat Lab, USA; Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), USA; The Israeli Academy Committees for Synchrotron Radiation, Microgravity and Bikura (First)

Honours and Memberships

• since 2020 Foreign Member, Royal Society, UK
• 2019 Honorary Professor, Northwest University, Xian, China
• 2019 Honorary Doctorate, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
• 2017 India’s Prime Minster Gold Medal for Outstanding Scientific Contributions, India
• 2015 Roentgen Medal, City of Remscheid, Remscheid, Germany
• 2015 India’s Prime Minster Gold Medal of Distinction, India
• since 2013 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2012 Prakash S. Datta Medal, Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS)
• 2012 Academia Sinica Award, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2011 City of Florence Award, Florence, Italy
• 2011 Marie Curie Medal, Polish Chemical Society, Warsaw, Poland
• 2011 Erna Hamburger Prize, EFEL-WISH Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland
• 2010 Wilhelm Exner Medal, Wilhelm Exner Foundation of the Austrian Industry Society, Austria
• 2009 DESY Golden Pin of Honour, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
• 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (together with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden
• 2009 Erice Prize for Peace, Rome, Vatican City
• 2008 Albert Einstein World Award of Science, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
• 2008 UNESCO-L’Oréal Award for European Woman in Life Science, Paris, France
• 2008 George E. Palade Gold Medal, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, USA
• 2008 Linus Pauling Medal, Oregon and Puget Sound Sections, American Chemical Society
• 2007 Wolf Prize, Wolf Foundation, Herzlia Pituach, Israel
• 2007 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, Paul Ehrlich Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• 2006 Otto Loewy Lecture, David Herzog Fund of Styrian Universities (David-Herzog-Fonds der steirischen Universitäten), Graz, Austria
• 2006 EMET Prize, Israel
• 2006 Rothschild Prize for Life Sciences, Yad Hanadiv, Israel
• 2005 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry, Columbia University, New York City, USA
• 2005 Fritz Lipmann Lectureship, Deutsche Biochemische Gesellschaft, Germany
• 2005 Datta Lectureship Award, IUBMB
• 2004 International Award and Medal for Ribosome Research, Meira and Shaul G. Massry Foundation, Beverly Hills, USA
• 2004 Paul Karrer Gold Medal, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2003 Anfinsen Prize, Protein Society, Canyon Country, USA
• 2003 Medal of Distinction, Israeli Chemical Society, Israel
• 2002 Harvey Prize for Natural Sciences, Technion, Haifa, Israel
• 2002 Israel Prize for Chemical Research, Israel
• 2002 F.A. Cotton Medal, American Chemical Society, USA
• 2000 Certificate of Distinction, National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
• 2000 Kilby International Award, North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Dallas, USA
• 2000 First European Crystallography Prize, European Crystallographic Association
• 1990 I.M. Kolthoff Award for Outstanding Research in Chemistry, Division of Analytical Chemistry, ACS, USA
• 1974 Somach Sachs Award for Outstanding Work in Biochemistry
• 1967 Miphal Hapais Prize for Outstanding Graduate Studies
• Member, National Academy of Sciences, USA
• Member, Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Israel
• Member, European Academy of Sciences and Art
• Member, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
• Member, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City
• Member, American Academy of Art and Sciences, USA
• Member, Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology, South Korea
• Member, International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)
• Member, International Academy for Microbiology
• Fellow, Royal Society for Chemistry, UK
• Ada Yonath holds multiple honorary doctorates.