Alfred L. Goldberg, Ph.D. - DF/HCC
Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School

Professor Goldberg has been on the Harvard Medical School faculty for his entire academic career. His many fundamental discoveries have been focused on the biochemical mechanisms and physiological regulation of protein breakdown in cells, and the importance of this process in human disease. He first demonstrated that misfolded proteins are selectively degraded by an ATP-dependent process in bacterial and animal cells, and then demonstrated the existence of the non-lysosomal ATP-dependent pathway for protein breakdown—now termed the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. His laboratory first described the roles of the 26S and 20S proteasomes in the degradation of ubiquitinated proteins, and discovered the ATP-dependent proteases responsible for protein degradation in bacteria and mitochondria; in addition, their lab has played a major role in elucidating their novel biochemical mechanisms and modes of regulation.

Also of very wide impact have been Dr. Goldberg’s studies showing that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway is critical in the excessive protein breakdown causing muscle atrophy in many disease states, in antigen presentation to the immune system, and in the clearance of misfolded aggregation-prone proteins. He and his colleagues also first introduced proteasome inhibitors widely used as research tools (e.g., MG132), and he initiated the development of the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib/Velcade, which is now used worldwide as the standard treatment of the blood cancer multiple myeloma. Dr. Goldberg’s various studies have not only advanced our understanding of many areas of biology and disease mechanisms, but have also had a major impact on biotechnology and medical practice.

Dr. Goldberg received his AB degree in biochemistry, and his Ph.D. in physiology, in 1968 from Harvard University, after attending Cambridge University as the first Churchill Scholar and Harvard Medical School. His research accomplishments have been recognized with many honors, including the Novartis-Drew Award for Biochemical Sciences, Severo Ochoa Award (New York Univ), Knobil Prize for Medical Research (Univ Texas), the Gabbay Award for Biotechnology and Medicine (Brandeis Univ), the Gordon Alpert Prize for Medical Research (Harvard Univ) and the Ernst Beutler Prize for Basic Research (American Society of Hematology). He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and has received honorary doctoral degrees from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories (Watson Graduate School), Maastricht University (Netherlands), and the University of Barcelona (Spain). He has published over 480 scientific papers and is among the 0.01% most cited authors in the life sciences.