Robert Tjian

Robert Tjian (Chinese: 錢澤南; born 1949 in Hong Kong) is a U.S. biochemist best known for his work on eukaryotic transcription. He is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Currently, Tjian is the President of HHMI, starting on April 1, 2009.

Biography

Tjian was born in Hong Kong in 1949. Tjian's father Tjian Tzi-Ning (錢子寧), a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was a famous tycoon in Shanghai and pioneer of China's modern paper industry. In April 1949, Tjian's family and business all moved to Hong Kong; in 1950 moved to São Paulo, Brazil; and later settled in the United States.^[1]

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971 and a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1976. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for three years before returning to the University of California in 1979 when he was appointed Assistant Professor of Biochemistry.^[2]

Awards and honors

• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1991)
• Elected to the American Philosophical Society
• Elected to the Academia Sinica, Taipei (1990)^[3]
• Pfizer Award for Enzymology (1983)
• Cancer Research Award, Milken Family Medical Foundation(1988)
• National Academy of Sciences Monsanto Award for Molecular Biology (1991)
• California Scientist of the Year (1994) ^[4]
• Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize, from General Motors Cancer Research Foundation (1999)
• Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1999)
• Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science (1995)
• Passano Award (1995)
• MERIT Award, from National Cancer Institute (2004)^[5]

External links

• Research Summary, UC Berkeley
• HHMI Scientist Bio
• Profile of Tjian's role as cofounder of biotechnology company Tularik

References