Alexander Jacob Varshavsky

Alexander Jacob Varshavsky (Russian: Александр Яковлевич Варшавский; born 8 November 1946) is a Russian-American biochemist, noted for his discovery of the N-end rule of ubiquitination. A native of Moscow, he is currently researching at Caltech.

Varshavsky provided an original approach to killing cancer cells, proffering the idea of a targeted molecular device that could enter a cell, examine it for DNA deletions specific to cancer and killing it if it meets the right profile. "(It) involves, in a nutshell, the finding of a genuine Achilles' heel of cancer cells, i.e. their potentially vulnerable feature that won't change during tumor progression," said Varshavsky.

The approach termed deletion-specific targeting (DST), employs HDs (homozygous DNA deletions) as the targets of cancer therapy. "In contrast to other attributes of cancer cells, their HDs are immutable markers. If the DST strategy can be implemented in a clinical setting, it may prove to be both curative and free of side effects."

Awards

• 1999 Gairdner Foundation International Award
• 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
• 2001 Wolf Prize in Medicine
• 2001 Massry Prize
• 2001 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
• 2006 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology
• 2007 Gotham Prize
• 2010 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
• 2011 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
• 2012 King Faisal International Prize
• 2012 Otto Warburg Medal
• 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
• 2014 Albany Medical Center Prize