MONTREAL – A 58-year-old Jewish biochemist at Montreal’s McGill University will be presented with a prestigious 2005 Killam Prize for career achievement April 25 at the posh Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Dr. Nahum Sonenberg of the Department of Biochemistry and the McGill Cancer Centre, along with two other faculty members, will receive Killam Prizes worth $100,000 each from the Canada Council for the Arts, which administers the program.
How does he feel about the honour?
“My wife is excited about the $100,000,” he laughs. “For me, I am so pleased with the recognition accorded to my work, my laboratory and McGill.”
Dr. Sonenberg conducts cutting-edge research, which has led to better understanding of basic biological processes in normal and cancer cells. This research is now playing a major role in the creation of new cancer treatments, including gene therapies and new anti-cancer drugs.
“I love my work,” Sonenberg told the Jewish Tribune in an interview. “You want people to live better and cure disease. That is the ultimate goal of all scientists. Cancer causes so much suffering.”
According to Dr. Sonenberg, the primary goal of his work has been to understand the control of protein synthesis, the mechanism by which the information in our genes creates the proteins that make up our bodies.
“Too much of some proteins can lead to diseases like cancer,” Dr.Sonenberg explained. “Not enough of other proteins results in diseases like diabetes.”
In addition to his focus on cancer, Dr. Sonenberg says he has had a long-term interest in virology and studies poliovirus, rhinoviruses, HIV and the hepatitis C virus or HCV. His laboratory’s scope extends even to obesity and neurology, making use of the latest techniques in molecular biology and biochemistry.
An International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Sonenberg has received a number of Canadian and international awards, including the Robert L. Noble Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada.
Born and raised in Israel, he obtained his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Tel Aviv University and his PhD from the Weizmann Institute. A member of the Israel Defence Forces tank unit and a veteran of the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, Dr. Sonenberg arrived in Montreal and McGill 25 years ago with his wife and two daughters. “I never dreamed that this would become my permanent home,” he said. “But that’s what happened. And I feel very fortunate.”
Dr. Sonenberg travels around the world, attending and speaking at conferences. In May he will be in France and Israel. He works frequently with colleagues across the country, including the University of Toronto.
McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum said that she is thrilled with the results of this year’s Killam competition.
“The awards recognize the magnificent accomplishments of three of our most productive colleagues and are richly deserved,” she said.
“Individually, the recipients are international leaders in their fields and have made enormous contributions to research, teaching and more generally to society. Together, they represent well the depth and breadth of research that is conducted at McGill. We are extremely proud.”
Inagurated in 1981 through funds donated to the Canada Council by Dorothy J. Killam in memory of her husband Izaak Killam, the Killam Prizes were created to honour eminent Canadian researchers, whether in industry, government agencies or universities. When the Canada Council was created, its mandate was to support both the arts and scholarly research; although this was changed with the creation of separate research councils, the Canada Council retained responsibility for the Killam program.
The 2005 Killam Prizes bring to 13 the number of McGill researchers who have received this recognition.
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