Photo courtesy of Stanford University Medical Center Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
Paul Berg, winner of the 2005 Biotechnology Heritage Award, is Cahill Professor in Cancer Research, Emeritus, at Stanford University School of Medicine and director emeritus of Stanford’s Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. Berg joined the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1959 and was chairman of the Department of Biochemistry from 1969 to 1974. A Nobel laureate, he is one of the principal pioneers in “gene splicing.” Berg, along with his colleagues Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger, was honored with the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing methods that make it possible to map the structure and function of DNA.
Berg initiated a voluntary moratorium on recombinant DNA research in 1974 and was the principal organizer of the now-famous 1975 Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA, where scientists discussed the potential safety issues arising from this new technology. The Asilomar conference was a milestone in the history of science, marking the beginning of attempts to study the social implications of scientific progress and to mitigate against negative social impact. Berg is also perhaps the leading public advocate for the continued use of stem cells in medical research, strongly opposing existing federal restrictions and lobbying and testifying before Congress about the potential for precipitating medical advances using stem-cell technology.
Among his many honors and awards, in addition to the Nobel Prize, are the National Medal of Science and the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Berg’s work on the genetic apparatus that directs the synthesis of proteins earned him the Eli Lilly Award in Biochemistry in 1959 and the California Scientist of the Year Award in 1963. He has twice been honored with the Henry J. Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University School of Medicine and has won the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology V. D. Mattia Prize, the Sarasota Medical Award for Achievement and Excellence, the Annual Award of the Gairdner Foundation, the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, and the New York Academy of Sciences Award.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he also is a past president of the American Society of Biological Chemists and a Fellow of the French Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London. He is a former chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the Human Genome Project.