Profile of Alberto Kornblihtt

Abstract

Molecular biologist Alberto Kornblihtt is proud to work within a tightly knit group of Buenos Aires-based researchers who are studying ribonucleic acids. Kornblihtt and his team investigate the regulation of alternative RNA splicing, a process that affects nearly 90% of human genes. Kornblihtt, who was elected as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011, was one of the first scientists to document how a single transcribed gene can give rise to different messenger RNAs that allow the gene to express different proteins. Because mutations that affect alternative splicing are a source of human disease, the findings of Kornblihtt and his colleagues reveal mechanisms underlying hereditary diseases, premature aging, and cancer.