View source for Andrew Fire

{{Short description|American biologist and professor of pathology and genetics}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image             = Andrew Fire, Stanford University.jpg
| caption           = Fire in 2008
| birth_name        = Andrew Zachary Fire
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1959|04|27}}
| birth_place       = [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]], California, U.S.
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| field             = Pathology, genetics
| work_institutions = [[Johns Hopkins University]]<br />[[Stanford University]]<br>[[MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology]]
| education         = [[University of California, Berkeley]]<br />[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| thesis_title      = In vitro transcription studies of adenovirus
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/303208464/
| thesis_year       = 1983
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Phillip Allen Sharp]]
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[RNA interference]]
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Meyenburg Prize]] (2002)
* [[NAS Award in Molecular Biology]] (2003)
* [[Wiley Prize]] (2003)
* [[Massry Prize]]  (2005)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (2006)
}}
| notable_students  = [[Jenny Hsieh]]
}}

'''Andrew Zachary Fire''' (born April 27, 1959) is an American [[biologist]] and professor of pathology and of genetics at the [[Stanford University]] School of Medicine. He was awarded the [[2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], along with [[Craig C. Mello]], for the discovery of [[RNA interference]] (RNAi). This research was conducted at the [[Carnegie Institution for Science|Carnegie Institution of Washington]] and published in 1998.

== Biography ==
Andrew Z Fire was born in [[Palo Alto, California]] and raised in [[Sunnyvale, California]]<ref name="Stanford School of Medicine">{{cite web |date=2006-10-02 |title=Andrew Fire wins 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |url=http://mednews.stanford.edu/fire/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010085000/http://mednews.stanford.edu/fire/ |archive-date=2006-10-10 |access-date=2006-10-02 |publisher=Stanford School of Medicine}}</ref> in a [[Jews|Jewish]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Nobel Prize laureates - Physiology and medicine |url=https://www.science.co.il/nobel-prizes/Biomedical.php |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=www.science.co.il}}</ref> family. He graduated from [[Fremont High School (Sunnyvale, California)|Fremont High School]]. He attended the [[University of California, Berkeley]] for his undergraduate degree, where he received a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in mathematics in 1978 at the age of 19.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shaw|first=Richard|title=Rejected by Stanford? You'll Live.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-30-oe-shaw30-story.html|publisher=L.A. Times|access-date=21 August 2013|date=2007-03-30}}</ref>  He then proceeded to the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in biology in 1983 under the mentorship of [[Nobel laureate]] [[geneticist]] [[Phillip Sharp]].

Fire moved to [[Cambridge]], England, as a [[Helen Hay Whitney Foundation|Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellow]]. He became a member of the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|MRC]] [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]] group headed by Nobel laureate biologist [[Sydney Brenner]].

From 1986 to 2003, Fire was a staff member of the [[Carnegie Institution of Washington]]’s Department of [[Embryology]] in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]. The initial work on double stranded RNA as a trigger of gene silencing was published while Fire and his group were at the Carnegie Labs.<ref name="Stanford School of Medicine" /> Fire became an adjunct professor in the Department of Biology at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in 1989 and joined the Stanford faculty in 2003. Throughout his career, Fire has been supported by research grants from the U.S. [[National Institutes of Health]].

Fire is a member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. He also serves on the Board of Scientific Counselors and the National Center for Biotechnology, National Institutes of Health.

== Nobel Prize ==
{{See also |RNAi}}

In 2006, Fire and Craig Mello shared the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for work first published in 1998 in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref name=AF1998>{{cite journal
 | last1 = Fire| year = 1998 | first1 = A.
 | last2 = Xu | first2 = S.
 | last3 = Montgomery | first3 = M.
 | last4 = Kostas | first4 = S.
 | last5 = Driver | first5 = S.
 | last6 = Mello | first6 = C.| title = Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans| journal = Nature| volume = 391| issue = 6669| pages = 806–811| pmid = 9486653
 | doi = 10.1038/35888
 | bibcode = 1998Natur.391..806F | s2cid = 4355692 | url = http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/238264 }}</ref> Fire and Mello, along with colleagues SiQun Xu, Mary Montgomery, Stephen Kostas, and Sam Driver, reported that tiny snippets of double-stranded [[RNA]] (dsRNA) effectively shut down specific genes, driving the destruction of [[messenger RNA]] (mRNA) with sequences matching the dsRNA. As a result, the mRNA cannot be translated into protein. Fire and Mello found that dsRNA was much more effective in gene silencing than the previously described method of RNA interference with single-stranded RNA. Because only small numbers of dsRNA molecules were required for the observed effect, Fire and Mello proposed that a catalytic process was involved. This hypothesis was confirmed by subsequent research.

The Nobel Prize citation, issued by Sweden's [[Karolinska Institute]], said: "This year's Nobel Laureates have discovered a fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information." The [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] (BBC) quoted Nick Hastie, director of the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|Medical Research Council]]'s Human Genetics Unit, on the scope and implications of the research:

{{blockquote|It is very unusual for a piece of work to completely revolutionise the whole way we think about biological processes and regulation, but this has opened up a whole new field in biology.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5398844.stm
|title=Nobel prize for genetic discovery
|publisher=[[BBC]]
|date=2006-10-02
|access-date=2006-10-02
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061004182319/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5398844.stm| archive-date= 4 October 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref>
}}

== Awards and honors ==
Fire has received the following awards and honors:<br />
(By chronological year of award <ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.umassmed.edu/pap/news/MelloPrize.aspx
 |title=UMASS MEDICAL SCHOOL PROFESSOR WINS NOBEL PRIZE
 |publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]
 |date=2006-10-02
 |access-date=2006-10-02
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206221430/http://www.umassmed.edu/pap/news/MelloPrize.aspx
 |archive-date=2006-12-06
}}
</ref>)
* [[Meyenburg Prize]] in 2002
* Co-recipient (with [[Craig Mello]]) of [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] Award in Molecular Biology in 2003
* Co-recipient (with Craig Mello, [[Thomas Tuschl]] and [[David Baulcombe]]) of the [[Wiley Prize]] in the Biomedical Sciences from [[Rockefeller University]] in 2003
* Elected member [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] in 2004
* Co-recipient (with [[Victor Ambros]], [[Craig Mello]], and [[Gary Ruvkun]])  of [[Brandeis University]]'s [[Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award]] for Distinguished Work in Medical Research in 2005
* Co-recipient (with Craig Mello) of the [[Gairdner Foundation International Award]] in 2005
* Co-recipient (with Craig Mello and [[David Baulcombe]]) of the [[Massry Prize]] in 2005
* Co-recipient (with Craig Mello) of the [[Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize]] in 2006
* Co-recipient (with Craig Mello) of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 2006

== See also ==
* [[History of RNA biology]]
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of RNA biologists]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Nobelprize|name=Andrew Z. Fire}} including the Nobel Lecture ''Gene Silencing by Double Stranded RNA''
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2006/press.html Nobel Prize press release]
* [http://www.ciw.edu/ Carnegie Institution for Science]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061010025712/http://mednews.stanford.edu/releases/2006/october/nobel.html Nobel announcement from Stanford University]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003555/http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/6506559.html US Patent 6506559 Genetic inhibition by double-stranded RNA (patent)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061102223642/http://www.umassmed.edu/administration/uploads/Fire_and_Mello_Nature_1998.pdf Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans], in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', via [[University of Massachusetts Medical School]]

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 2001-2025}}
{{2006 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Heineken Prizes}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire, Andrew}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization]]
[[Category:American geneticists]]
[[Category:Jewish biologists]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
[[Category:Academics from Palo Alto, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Palo Alto, California]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Stanford University School of Medicine faculty]]
[[Category:Winners of the Heineken Prize]]
[[Category:People from Sunnyvale, California]]
[[Category:Massry Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the AACR Academy]]
[[Category:People from Stanford, California]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]
[[Category:Helen Hay Whitney Foundation fellows]]