The Roche Institute of Molecular Biology was created on July 14, 1967 when John Burns, then the vice president of research at Hoffman-La Roche, persuaded biochemist Sidney Udenfriend to leave the National Institutes of Health and help him create a basic science institute at the Hoffman-La Roche Nutley, New Jersey, facility. It lasted for 28 years and was associated with a number of well-known and well-regarded scientists. At one time, it was one of the largest post-doctoral training programs funded by industry with approximately 70 fellows. It was one of the first examples of a successful relationship between a basic biological research institute and biomedical company. Notable discoveries include Abuscreen, a product for detecting drug abuse, and Aferon, a recombinant alpha-interferon. [1] Udenfriend claims that the decision of Roche to close the institute was despite the fact that the institute had been producing useful research for the company, and was very highly ranked in terms of independent research institutes. He does note that the scientists leaving the institute were in high demand and were given generous leave packages from Roche, including personal leave salaries, bridging grants and the allowance to keep all equipment in the laboratory. [2] The building which formerly housed the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology now is the location of the Hackensack Meridian Health's Center for Discovery and Innovation. [3]
Sidney Altman was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for their work on the catalytic properties of RNA.
The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research is awarded by Brandeis University. It was established in 1971 "as an expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the encouragement and development of basic science as it applies to medicine".
Leo Sternbach was a Polish American chemist who is credited with first synthesizing benzodiazepines, the main class of tranquilizers.
Nahum Sonenberg, is an Israeli Canadian microbiologist and biochemist. He is a James McGill professor of biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was an HHMI international research scholar from 1997 to 2011 and is now a senior international research scholar. He is best known for his seminal contributions to our understanding of translation, and notable for the discovery of the mRNA 5' cap-binding protein, eIF4E, the rate-limiting component of the eukaryotic translation apparatus.
Bernard Beryl Brodie was a founding scientist in the area of biochemical and neurochemical pharmacology whose work in the 1940s and 1950s had great impact. He was a major figure in the fields of drug metabolism and drug therapy, studying how the absorption and interactions of drugs in the body. Brodie helped to found and lead the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the National Institutes of Health. He was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
Francisco José Franco del Amo was a Spanish academic and author.
John Derek Smith FRS (1924–2003) was a British molecular biologist who participated in many of the major discoveries at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge.
Sidney Pestka was an American biochemist and geneticist. A recipient of the National Medal of Technology, he is sometimes referred to as the "father of interferon" for his groundbreaking work developing the interferons as treatments for major diseases such as hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Pestka was part of the team working on research involving the genetic code, protein synthesis and ribosome function that led to the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine received by Marshall Warren Nirenberg.
John Kopchick is a molecular biologist and co-inventor of the drug Somavert (Pegvisomant), which has improved the lives of acromegalic individuals around the world. He is currently the Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Molecular Biology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Kopchick's groundbreaking work in the field of growth hormone has helped shape the study of endocrinology.
Zhijian "James" Chen is a Chinese-American biochemist and professor in the department of molecular biology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is best known for his discovery of mechanisms by which nucleic acids trigger innate and autoimmune responses from the interior of a cell, work for which he received the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Richard H. Scheller is the former chief science officer and head of therapeutics at 23andMe and the former executive vice president of research and early development at Genentech. He was a professor at Stanford University from 1982 to 2001 before joining Genentech. He has been awarded the Alan T. Waterman Award in 1989, the W. Alden Spencer Award in 1993 and the NAS Award in Molecular Biology in 1997, won the 2010 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience with Thomas C. Südhof and James E. Rothman, and won the 2013 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research with Thomas Südhof. He was also given the Life Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Asis Datta is an Indian biochemist, molecular biologist and genetic engineer, known for his research on genetically modified foods and food nutritional security. He was the founding Director of the National Institute of Plant Genome Research and is credited with the discovery of genes that assist in extended preservation of fruits and vegetables. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, the highest Indian award and in the Science category, and was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, by the Government of India, in 1999. In 2008, he was included again in the Republic Day Honours list for the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.
Suvendra Nath Bhattacharyya is an Indian molecular biologist, epigeneticist and the principal scientist at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He is a recipient of the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Bioscience Award of the Department of Biotechnology. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2016, for his contributions to biological sciences.
David S. Salomon is a cancer research scientist and co-discoverer of the Cripto-1 gene. His areas of research include stem cells, cell signaling, breast cancer, mammary gland development, small molecule inhibitors, and embryonic development.
Dr. Herbert Weissbach NAS NAI AAM is an American biochemist/molecular biologist.
Jacques Banchereau is an internationally prominent French American immunologist and molecular biologist. As of 2024, he is Chief Scientific Officer at Javelin Biotech. He was formerly professor and director of immunological sciences at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine and also the former chief science officer, senior vice president, and DTA head of inflammation & virology at Hoffman-La Roche. He is best known for his extensive research on dendritic cells with Nobel Laureate Ralph M. Steinman. He is the fifth most cited immunologist ranked by Times Higher Education's report.
Anne-Claude Gingras is a senior investigator at Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and a professor in the department of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto. She is an expert in mass spectrometry based proteomics technology that allows identification and quantification of protein from various biological samples.
Aaron J. Shatkin was an American professor and director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers University and a scientist at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He was known for his work as a virologist studying reoviruses.
De-Maw Chuang is a Taiwanese-American neuroscientist.
Enrique De La Cruz is a Cuban-American researcher and educator, known for his research in biochemistry regarding the cytoskeleton of cells.