Michael W. Young
Nobel laureate: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2017)
Biography
Michael Warren Young, born March 28, 1949, is an American biologist and geneticist known for his pioneering work on circadian rhythms. Born in Miami, Florida, Young attended the University of Texas at Austin after graduating from L. D. Bell High School. His career has focused on studying the genetic control of sleep and wakefulness patterns, primarily using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
At Rockefeller University, Young set up a lab that played a key role in advancing chronobiology. His team identified several important genes related to the regulation of internal biological clocks that control circadian rhythms. Notably, Young clarified how the period gene is essential for fruit flies to have regular sleep cycles. This research provided crucial insights into how organisms keep their internal timing.
Young's lab also discovered other genes vital to circadian rhythm regulation, like the timeless and doubletime genes. These genes produce proteins that work together with the period gene to manage the molecular clockwork that controls biological timing. His research uncovered how these genetic elements interact to create cycles that align with the 24-hour day-night cycle.
Young's work has been recognized with many top awards. He won the Gruber Prize in Neuroscience in 2009, the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize in 2011, and in 2012, he received the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Massry Prize. A year later, he was awarded The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine in 2013.
His greatest recognition came in 2017 when he, along with Jeffrey C. Hall and Michael Rosbash, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. Their work changed scientific understanding of how living organisms adjust their biological rhythms in sync with Earth's rotations, offering insights that go beyond fruit fly research to human health and disease.
Before Fame
Growing up in Miami in the 1950s and 1960s, Young experienced a time of rapid progress in the biological sciences. After finishing high school at L. D. Bell, he went on to the University of Texas at Austin. There, he was introduced to the developing areas of molecular biology and genetics that were changing biological research.
The late 20th century was a time of major breakthroughs in genetics, with scientists starting to understand how genes control key biological processes. Young got into this field when researchers began using molecular techniques to study behavior and physiology, allowing them to explore questions about biological timing that were previously only observed. By focusing on circadian rhythms, he placed himself at the forefront of a growing field, especially as scientists began to see how biological clocks affect health and disease.
Key Achievements
- Elucidated the function of the period gene in controlling circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster
- Discovered the timeless and doubletime genes essential for biological clock regulation
- Received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythm
- Established fundamental understanding of how genetic components create oscillating biological cycles
- Advanced the field of chronobiology through decades of research at Rockefeller University
Did You Know?
- 01.Young's research team worked with fruit flies because their circadian rhythms can be observed by monitoring when the flies emerge from their pupal cases, which normally occurs at dawn
- 02.The period gene that Young studied was first discovered in the 1970s when researchers found fruit fly mutants that had abnormal daily rhythms
- 03.Young's laboratory developed techniques to visualize the daily oscillations of clock proteins within living fly brains using fluorescent markers
- 04.The timeless gene discovered by Young's team was named for its role in the 'timeless' quality of circadian rhythms that persist even in constant darkness
- 05.Young's work helped explain why shift workers and frequent travelers experience jet lag, as it revealed the molecular basis for how our internal clocks synchronize with environmental light cycles
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine | 2017 | for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm |
| Canada Gairdner International Award | 2012 | — |
| Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize | 2011 | — |
| Gruber Prize in Neuroscience | 2009 | — |
| Massry Prize | 2012 | — |
| The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine | 2013 | — |