Nobel Prize winner was 1970 Jackson Laboratory Summer Student
Jack W. Szostak, Ph.D., shares the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in advancing understanding of telomeres, the protective “caps” at the ends of chromosomes that prevent damage to DNA. One of Dr. Szostak’s first experiences in conducting research was in 1970, when he participated in The Jackson Laboratory’s Summer Student Program.
Working under the mentorship of Dr. Chen K. Chai, now Professor Emeritus of The Jackson Laboratory, young Jack studied genes associated with thyroid function. At the end of the summer, Dr. Chai described Jack in a memo to the director of the Summer Student Program, Robert Shea: “I found him very sharp and sensitive in absorbing ideas and doing laboratory work carefully...As a person, Jack is somewhat shy but he is very friendly. Perhaps, this is partly because he is about two years younger than his classmates. I certainly feel that Jack has a keen interest in science and has a good potential to be a scientist.”
Dr. Szostak is the third Summer Student Program alumnus to win the Nobel Prize after Laureates David Baltimore and Howard Temin, who were both at the Laboratory in 1955.
