The focus of research in the laboratory of C. David Allis, PhD, is deciphering and translating the “histone code.” Histone proteins form nucleosomal complexes that make up eukaryotic chromatin, which manages the genetic information in each cell and facilitates access to specific genes. The way DNA is packaged within chromatin determines how the DNA functions in terms of transcription, replication, and chromosome segregation. At the most fundamental level, these functions are controlled by histones. Allis’s laboratory favors the view that histone proteins are major carriers of epigenetic information.

Elaine Fuchs is a cell biologist, famous for her work on the biology and molecular mechanisms of mammalian skin and skin diseases, and has led the modernization of dermatology. Fuchs also pioneered reverse genetics approaches, which assess protein function first and then assesses its role in development and disease. In particular, Fuchs researches skin stem cells, and their production of hair and skin. She is currently the Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development at Rockefeller University.

Biography
Fuchs grew up outside Chicago, in a family of scientists—her father, aunt, and sister were also scientists, and her family encouraged her to pursue higher education.

Professor Steven D. Tanksley is one of the world leaders in plant genomic research. He has contributed to the understanding of heterosis in rice by identifying genes in a wild ancestor that significantly increased yields.

In 2004, he was a co-recipient of the 2004 Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture for his "innovative development of hybrid rice and discovery of the genetic basis of heterosis in this important food staple." The award will be presented by Moshe Katsav, president of the State of Israel, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 9.

Two Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers, Prof. Howard Cedar and Prof. Aharon Razin, have been awarded the 2008 Wolf Prize in Medicine for their fundamental contributions to the control of gene expression and cancer research.

Minister of Education Prof. Yuli Tamir, chairperson of the Wolf Foundation Council, announced that the $100,000 prize, often referred to as Israel’s “Nobel Prize,” will be awarded to Professors Cedar and Razin of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School ''for their fundamental contributions to our understanding of the role of DNA methylation in the biological function of higher organisms, with widespread impact on studies of development, control of gene expression and cancer research.''

Alexander Levitzki is an Israeli biochemist who is a Professor of Biochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Birth and education
Alexander Levitzki was born in 1940 in Palestine. He completed his M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

Clay Armstrong is a prominent physiologist and a former student of Dr. Andrew Fielding Huxley. He was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1996. He won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (shared with Bertil Hille and Roderick MacKinnon) in 1999. He is currently a professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Randy W. Schekman is an American cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley and Editor-in-Chief of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1992.

Sir David Charles Baulcombe, FRS (born 1952) is a British plant scientist and geneticist. He is currently Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge.

Biography
David Baulcombe was born in Solihull, West Midlands (then Warwickshire). He received his B.S. degree in botany from the University of Leeds in 1973 at the age of 21. He proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, where he received his Ph.D. in botany in 1977.