Nobel Laureate receives Honorary Doctorate

Nobel Laureate, Professor Aaron Ciechanover, has received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from UNSW. A distinguished biochemist, his discovery of how cells regulate protein degradation earned him the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and has led to greater understanding of immune defence and diseases such as cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis.

Professor Ciechanover has links with UNSW and the Garvan Institute through the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, where he is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Medicine. With colleagues Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, he revealed that a cell functions as a highly-efficient "checking station" where proteins are synthesised and broken down. Scientific understanding of this process offers opportunities to develop drugs against autoimmune diseases.

Professor Ciechanover has also received the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the 2003 Israel Prize in Biology. He is a member of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Vatican), and the National Academy of the Sciences of the USA.

Media Contact: Dan Gaffney | 0411 156 015 | d.gaffney@unsw.edu.au