Charles Yanofsky

Who is Charles Yanofsky?

Charles Yanofsky is a leading American geneticist.

Born in New York, Yanofsky studied at the City College of New York and at Yale University.

In 1964, Yanofsky and colleagues established that gene sequences and protein sequences are colinear in bacteria. This had previously been demonstrated in humans by studies of sickle cell anemia. Yanofsky showed that changes in DNA sequence can produce changes in protein sequence at corresponding positions. His work revealed how controlled alterations in RNA structure allow RNA to serve as a regulatory molecule in both bacterial and animal cells.

Yanofsky was awarded the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences in 1972 and was co-recipient of the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1976 with Seymour Benzer. Yanofsky was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society in 1985 and was one of the recipients of the 2003 National Medal of Science awards.

Charles Yanofsky is now the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Molecular Biology at Stanford University.