Michael Grunstein awarded 2016 Gruber Prize in Genetics

Michael Grunstein, professor of biological chemistry and UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center member, has been awarded the 2016 Gruber Prize in Genetics. He will share the prize with David Allis of The Rockefeller University.

Grunstein is known for his pioneering work in the field of epigenetics; his discoveries identified the role histones play in regulating genetic activity.

“These two remarkable scientists showed us that genetic coding is not determined solely by our inherited DNA, but also by a direct interaction between that DNA and histones, the proteins in cell nuclei around which DNA is tightly bound,” says Huda Zoghbi, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Baylor College of Medicine and chair of the Selection Advisory Board to the Gruber Genetics Prize.

The Gruber International Prize Program honors individuals in the fields of Cosmology, Genetics and Neuroscience, whose groundbreaking work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture.