• 1959-1962 B.Sc. Chemistry, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
• 1962-1964 M.Sc. Biochemistry, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
• 1964-1968 Ph.D. X-ray crystallography, Weizmann Institute (WI), Israel
• 1969 Post Doctoral Fellow, Mellon Inst. Pittsburgh, Pa., USA
• 1970 Post Doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

• 1989- Director, The Kimmelman Center for Bimolecular Assemblies, WI
• 1988- Professor, Dept. of Structural Biology, WI
• 1988-2004 Director, The Mazer Center for Structural Biology, WI
• 1986-2004 Head, Max-Planck Research Unit, Hamburg, Germany
• 1992-1994 Chairperson, Dept. of Structural Biology, WI
• 1989-1990 Chairperson, Dept. of Structural Chemistry, WI
• 1984-1988 Associate Prof., Dept. of Structural Chemistry, WI
• 1974-1983 Senior Scientist, Dept. of Structural Chemistry, WI
• 1979-1983 Visiting Prof., Max-Planck Inst. for Mol. Genetics, Berlin, Germany
• 1978 summer Visiting Prof., Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
• 1977-1978 Visiting Scientist, Biophysics, University of Chicago, IL, USA
• 1974 Visiting Scientist, Dental School, University of Alabama, USA
• 1971-1977 Consultant: The Open University, Israel
• 1971-1978 Lecturer, Tel-Aviv & Ben Gurion Uni, Israel
• 1970-1974 Scientist, Dept. of Chemistry, WI

• Member of the USA National Academy of Sciences
• Member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Art
• Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
• Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)

• 2004 The Massry Foundation International Award and Medal for Ribosome Research
• 2004 The Paul Karrer Gold Medal, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2003 The Anfinsen Prize of the Protein Society, Boston, USA
• 2003 Medal of distinction - Israeli Chemical Society
• 2003 Honorary doctorate, Tel-Aviv Uni. Israel
• 2002 Honorary doctorate, Ben-Gurion Uni., Israel
• 2002 Harvey Prize for Natural Sciences - The Technion, Israel
• 2002 The Israel Prize for Chemical Research
• 2002 The F.A. Cotton Medal, The USA Chemical Society, USA
• 2001 Honorary Member of the Israeli Crystallographic Society
• 2000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Certificate of Distinction, USA
• 2000 The Kilby International Award, USA
• 2000 The First European Crystallography Prize, Nancy, France 1990 - Kolthof Award for outstanding research in Chemistry, Haifa, Israel
• 1989 Holder of Martin A. Kimmel Professorial Chair, Weizmann Inst., Israel
• 1974 Somach Sachs Award for Outstanding Work in Biochemistry 1967 - Miphal Hapais Prize for Outstanding Graduate Studies

• 2004 The NYU colloquium in Life Sicnces
• 2004 The Steenbock Lecture, Wisconsin, USA
• 2004 The Nobelsymposium on Molecular Mechanisms of Biological Processes, Sweden
• 2004 The FEBS Young Scientist Forum - Warsaw, Poland
• 2004 The Israeli Microbiology Society Meeting, Haifa, Israel
• 2004 The ESRF-Israel Collaboration Conference, Jerusalem, Israel
• 2003 Student Forum Lecture, MPI, Martinsreid, Germany
• 2003 The International Biochemistry Society, Montreal, Canada
• 2003 The Nobel symposium on non-coding RNA, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2003 The 3rd European Life Science Organization Meeting, Dresden, Germany
• 2003 The Anfinsen plenary lecture in the 17th Protein Symposium, Boston, USA
• 2003 The Opening lecture in ESOR 9 Symposium, Oslo, Norway
• 2003 The Finnish Bio-Center lecturer, Helsinki, Finland
• 2003 "RNA Targeting" Aventis Initiative, Wiesbaden, Germany
• 2003 RNA chemistry and Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel
• 2002 The 28th FEBS Meeting, Istanbul, Turkey
• 2002 The XVI International Crystallography Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland
• 2002 The 1st Central European Conf. "Chemistry towards Biology", Portoroz, Slovenia
• 2002 The 150 years of Norwegian Chemistry Celebration, Oslo, Norway
• 2002 Symposium on Structural Biology, Tromso, Norway
• 2002 The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Lecture, UCSF, San Diego, USA
• 2002 The 5th Heart of Europe Meeting, Goslar, Germany
• 2002 The Israeli society for Infectious diseases, Eilat, Israel
• 2002 The Frontier of Science Lecture - Case Western University, USA
• 2001 Address to the Japanese Biochemical society, Tokyo, Japan
• 2001 The Stein Lecture, Rockefeller University, NY, USA
• 2001 The Israeli Chemical Society Annual Meeting, Tel-Aviv, Israel
• 2001 The ESRF Users Meeting, Grenoble, France
• 2000 The DeWitt Stetten Symposium, National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
• 2000 The Welch Foundation Lecturer, Texas, USA 2000 - The European Crystallography Meeting, Nancy, France
• 1999 Crystallography Towards Medicine III, Marburg, Germany
• 1996 The annual Bio-center Lecture, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• 1993 The XII International Crystallography Meeting, Beijing, China

• Acta Crytstallographica D.,
• ChemBioChem;
• Current protein and peptide science

• The National Supreme Committee for High Education (MALAG)
• The National Advisory Committee for Vision of Science, Israel
• The Advisory Committee, Biological Functions (Life 2000), Academy of Finland
• The International Committee for Synchrotron Radiation
• The Principal Users Group, Structural Biology Center, Argonne National Laboratory, USA
• The Principal Users Group at Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), USA
• The Israeli Academy Committees for Synchrotron Radiation, Microgravity and Bikura (First) Fund

The ribosome is the cellular organelle catalyzing the translation of genetic code into proteins. It is a protein/RNA assembly arranged in two subunits that associate for performing protein biosynthesis. The prokaryotic large ribosomal subunit, which migrates with sedimentation coefficient of 50S and is of molecular weight 1.5 mega Dalton, contains 3000 nucleotides in two RNA chains and ~35 proteins. The smaller ribosomal subunit, which migrates as 30S and is of 0.85 mega Dalton, contains 1500 nucleotides in one RNA chain and ~20 proteins. The large subunit creates the peptide bonds and provides the path for emerging nascent proteins, and the small subunit has key roles in initiating the biosynthetic process and in controlling the fidelity of codon-anti-codon base pairing. The ribosome contains three tRNA binding sites, designated the A (aminoacyl), P (peptidyl) and E (exit), which are located on both subunits. During the elongation cycle both ribosomal subunits work together to translocate all three tRNAs molecules together with the associated mRNA chain by precisely one codon. In this motion each of the tRNA molecules passes through the three ribosomal binding sites, from A- to P-to E-site.

We initiated ribosomal crystallography about two decades ago, and determined the 3 A structures of functionally active conformations of the small and the large ribosomal subunits in 2000 and 2001 (Schluenzen et al. 2000, Harms et al., 2001). Further analysis revealed the mechanism of peptide bond formation and illuminated the fashion of the ribosomal involvement in cellular regulation. In addition, by investigating crystallographically the modes of binding of over a dozen antibiotics, we elucidated the structural basis for their action, as well as for their selectivity, and illuminated possible pathways for acquiring resistance by pathogenic bacteria.

1. Berisio, R., Schluenzen, F., Harms, J., Bashan, A., Auerbach, T., Baram, D. and Yonath, A. (2003)
   Structural insight into the role of the ribosomal tunnel in cellular regulation.
   Nat. Struct. Biol. 10, 366-370.
2. Bashan, A., Agmon, I., Zarivach, R., Schluenzen, F., Harms, J., Berisio, R., Bartels, H., Franceschi, F., Auerbach, T., Hansen, H.A., Kossoy, E., Kessler, M. and Yonath, A. (2003)
   Structural basis of the ribosomal machinery for peptide bond formation, translocation, and nascent chain progression.
   Mol. Cell 11, 91-102.
3. Harms, J., Schluenzen, F., Zarivach, R., Bashan, A., Gat, S., Agmon, I., Bartels, H., Franceschi, F. and Yonath, A. (2001)
   High resolution structure of the large ribosomal subunit from a mesophilic eubacterium.
   Cell 107, 679-688.
4. Schlunzen, F., Zarivach, R., Harms, J., Bashan, A., Tocilj, A., Albrecht, R., Yonath, A. and Franceschi, F. (2001)
   Structural basis for the interaction of antibiotics with the peptidyl transferase centre in eubacteria.
   Nature 413, 814-821.
5. Schluenzen, F., Tocilj, A., Zarivach, R., Harms, J., Gluehmann, M., Janell, D., Bashan, A., Bartels, H., Agmon, I., Franceschi, F. and Yonath, A. (2000)
   Structure of functionally activated small ribosomal subunit at 3.3 angstroms resolution.
   Cell 102, 615-623.