Gary Ruvkun, PhD, is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ruvkun’s research has explored regulation by microRNA genes and other tiny RNAs, control of longevity by insulin and other endocrine pathways, surveillance of toxins and other bacterial attacks, and detection of DNA or RNA from life on other planets ancestrally related to life on Earth.
Dr. Ruvkun’s honors and awards include the Rosenstiel Award (with Victor Ambros, Andy Fire, and Craig Mello), the Warren Triennial Prize (with Victor Ambros), the Benjamin Franklin Medal (with Victor Ambros and David Baulcombe), the Gairdner International Award (with Victor Ambros), the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (with Victor Ambros and David Baulcombe), the Louisa Horwitz Prize (with Victor Ambros), the Shaul and Meira Massry Prize (with Victor Ambros), the Dan David Prize for Aging research (with Cynthia Kenyon), the Ipsen Foundation Longevity Prize, the Paul Janssen Award (with Victor Ambros), the Wolf Prize (with Victor Ambros), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and the Gruber Prize (with Victor Ambros), and the National Academy of Sciences.