Chambon is 1998 Welch awardee

Abstract

For basic research in chemistry and molecular biology that has led to new treatments for cancer and other diseases, biochemist Pierre Chambon, director of the Institute of Genetics & Molecular & Cellular Biology in Strasbourg, France, has been named recipient of the 1998 Welch Award in Chemistry. The $300,000 prize is presented annually by the Welch Foundation of Houston. The foundation cited Chambons contributions to the understanding of the structural organization, control of genetic expression, and evolution of an organisms genetic material. His investigation of gene expression, for example, led to the discovery of so-called DNA enhancers—segments of DNA that bind specific regulatory proteins, thereby playing an essential role in controlling how genes are turned on or off. Chambon, who is also a professor of molecular genetics at the College of France in Paris, received a medical degree from Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg in 1958. He is a member of numerous scientific organizations, including ...