Dr. Alan G. Hinnebusch is a distinguished molecular geneticist renowned for his seminal contributions to understanding gene expression regulation. He currently serves as a Principal Investigator at the National Institutes of Health within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development where he heads the Section on Nutrient Control of Gene Expression. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship in yeast genetics with Gerald R. Fink at Cornell University and MIT, he established his independent research program at NICHD in 1983, where he has maintained a productive research career spanning four decades. Dr. Hinnebusch's early work established foundational principles in translational control mechanisms that continue to shape the field of molecular biology.
Dr. Hinnebusch is particularly renowned for elucidating a dual regulatory response to nutrient starvation and stress involving the phosphorylation of translation initiation factor 2, a mechanism that induces translation of specific transcription factors while suppressing general protein synthesis. His laboratory has published more than 220 original research articles that have transformed understanding of transcriptional activation and translational control mechanisms, with his work on the roles of chromatin remodeling complexes SWI/SNF, RSC, and Ino80C and histone acetyltransferases in nucleosome dynamics receiving widespread recognition. His team's identification of functional domains of eukaryotic initiation factors and ribosomal proteins involved in accurate AUG recognition has provided critical insights into the molecular basis of translation initiation. These discoveries have established fundamental principles of gene regulation that have been widely adopted across the molecular biology community.
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, Dr. Hinnebusch has received numerous honors including the Maryland's Outstanding Young Scientist award in 1994 and fellowships in the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His laboratory continues to investigate the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation at both translational and transcriptional levels, utilizing the powerful genetic system of budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to dissect complex regulatory networks. Dr. Hinnebusch's ongoing research focuses on the structure and regulation of the eIF2 kinase Gcn2, RNA helicases' roles in determining translational efficiencies, and the functions of transcriptional activation domains in cofactor recruitment. His work continues to provide critical insights into nutrient control of gene expression, maintaining his position as a leading authority in the field of molecular genetics.
