Martin Gorovsky, Rush Rhees Professor and chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Rochester, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Gorovsky is internationally known for his work in cell and molecular biology. He studies how and why some genes are turned on while others remain dormant, and how genes make proteins which govern an organism's development. To do this he studies a microscopic, one-celled animal with two nuclei, Tetrahymena.
In recent genetic engineering work, Gorovsky and research associate Jacek Gaertig have developed a new way to replace genes in Tetrahymena. Historically scientists have replaced genes in the organism one cell at a time, but Gaertig and Gorovsky have found a way to remove a gene, clone and modify it, and then insert it into thousands of cells at once. The ability to target a certain gene and then change it is a goal of scientists who hope to cure a variety of diseases using gene therapy.
Gorovsky earned his bachelor's degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and did his postdoctoral work at Yale. He has been a member of the University's faculty since 1970 and has been chair of the Department of Biology since 1982.
Other members of the University faculty who are fellows of AAAS are Bruce Arden, William Bowen, Jean E. Johnson, Henry E. Kyburg, Walter Makous, Hugh Van Horn, Richard W. Hyde, William D. McHugh, George Engel, Curt Teichert and Johannes H. B. Kemperman. tr