View source for Mario Capecchi

{{short description|Molecular geneticist and Nobel laureate}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Mario Capecchi
| birth_name        = Mario Ramberg Capecchi
| image             = MarioCapecchiFotoThalerTamas.JPG
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Capecchi at a conference in 2013
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1937|10|6}}
| birth_place       = [[Verona]], Italy
| nationality       = Italian, American
| field             = [[Genetics]]
| work_institutions = [[Harvard Medical School]]<br />[[University of Utah]]
| education         = [[Antioch College]]<br />[[Harvard University]]
| thesis_title      = On the Mechanism of Suppression and Polypeptide Chain Initiation
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302261581/
| thesis_year       = 1967
| doctoral_advisor  = [[James D. Watson]]
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Hox gene]]s in [[knockout mouse|knockout mice]]
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = [[Kyoto Prize]] (1996)<br />[[Franklin Medal]] (1997)<br />[[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]] (2001)<br />[[Massry Prize]]  (2002)<br />[[Wolf Prize in Medicine]] (2002)<br /> [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (2007)
| footnotes         = 
| website           = {{URL|https://capecchi.genetics.utah.edu}}
}}

'''Mario Ramberg Capecchi''' (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born molecular [[geneticist]] and a co-awardee of the 2007 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for discovering a method to create mice in which a specific gene is turned off, known as [[knockout mouse|knockout mice]].<ref name="Capecchi2005">{{cite journal|last1=Skipper|first1=Magda|title=An Interview With Mario Capecchi|journal=Nature Reviews Genetics|volume=6|issue=6|year=2005|page=434|issn=1471-0056|doi=10.1038/nrg1647|pmid=15934189|s2cid=31781543|author-link=Magdalena Skipper|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90646-5 | last1 = Thomas | first1 = K. R. | last2 = Capecchi | first2 = M. R. | title = Site-directed mutagenesis by gene targeting in mouse embryo-derived stem cells | journal = Cell | volume = 51 | issue = 3 | pages = 503–512 | year = 1987 | pmid = 2822260| s2cid = 31961262 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mansour | first1 = S. L. | last2 = Thomas | first2 = K. R. | last3 = Capecchi | first3 = M. R. | doi = 10.1038/336348a0 | title = Disruption of the proto-oncogene int-2 in mouse embryo-derived stem cells: A general strategy for targeting mutations to non-selectable genes | journal = Nature | volume = 336 | issue = 6197 | pages = 348–352 | year = 1988 | pmid   =3194019| bibcode = 1988Natur.336..348M | s2cid = 2997260 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Capecchi | first1 = M. R. | title = High efficiency transformation by direct microinjection of DNA into cultured mammalian cells | journal = Cell | volume = 22 | issue = 2 Pt 2 | pages = 479–488 | year = 1980 | pmid = 6256082 | doi=10.1016/0092-8674(80)90358-x| s2cid = 2189404 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Chisaka | first1 = O. | last2 = Capecchi | first2 = M. R. | doi = 10.1038/350473a0 | title = Regionally restricted developmental defects resulting from targeted disruption of the mouse homeobox gene hox-1.5 | journal = Nature | volume = 350 | issue = 6318 | pages = 473–479 | year = 1991 | pmid = 1673020 | bibcode = 1991Natur.350..473C | s2cid = 972118 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90463-0 | last1 = Thomas | first1 = K. R. | last2 = Folger | first2 = K. R. | last3 = Capecchi | first3 = M. R. | title = High frequency targeting of genes to specific sites in the mammalian genome | journal = Cell | volume = 44 | issue = 3 | pages = 419–428 | year = 1986 | pmid = 3002636| s2cid = 30570106 }}</ref> He shared the prize with [[Martin Evans]] and [[Oliver Smithies]].<ref name="Nobel 2007">{{cite web|url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2007/index.html|title = The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007|access-date = 2007-10-08|publisher = Nobelprize.org}}</ref> He is currently  Distinguished Professor of [[Human Genetics]] and [[Biology]] at the [[University of Utah School of Medicine]].<ref name="microsoft">{{AcademicSearch|2663346}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Kain | first1 = K. | title = The first transgenic mice: An interview with Mario Capecchi | doi = 10.1242/dmm.001966 | journal = Disease Models and Mechanisms | volume = 1 | issue = 4–5 | pages = 197–201 | year = 2008 | pmid = 19093023 | pmc =2590805 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Cohen-Tannoudji | first1 = M. | title = Prix Nobel de Médecine 2007 | doi = 10.1051/medsci/200723121159 | doi-access=free | journal = Médecine/Sciences | volume = 23 | issue = 12 | pages = 1159–1161 | year = 2007 | pmid = 18154719 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Capecchi | first1 = M. | title = An Interview with | doi = 10.1038/nrg1647 | journal = Nature Reviews Genetics | volume = 6 | issue = 6 | page = 434 | year = 2005 | pmid = 15934189 | s2cid = 31781543 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dennis | first1 = C. | title = Mario Capecchi: From rags to research | doi = 10.1038/430010a | journal = Nature | volume = 430 | issue = 6995 | pages = 10–11 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15229575 | bibcode = 2004Natur.430...10D | s2cid = 4347862 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

==Life==
Mario Capecchi was born in [[Verona]], Italy, as the only child of Luciano Capecchi and Lucy Ramberg, an Italian-born<ref name="DeseretNews2007_10_08">{{cite web|url=http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695216829,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20090220160514/http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695216829,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 20, 2009|title=U. scientist Capecchi wins Nobel Prize|author=Lois M. Collins|date=2007-10-08|publisher=[[Deseret Morning News]]}}</ref> daughter of American-born [[Impressionist]] painter Lucy Dodd Ramberg and German archaeologist Walter Ramberg. His parents weren't married, and due to the chaos in Europe caused by [[World War II]], the story of his early life is remarkable, but the details are unclear. In 1941 he and his mother were living near [[Bolzano]], about 160 miles north of his father in [[Reggio Emilia]] when his mother was arrested and deported for pamphleteering and belonging to an anti-[[Fascist]] group.<ref name="SaltLakeTribune2001_09_16">{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7118310|author=Troy Goodman|title=U. scientist Mario Cappechi scores a 'knockout'|publisher=[[Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=2001-09-16|access-date=2007-10-08}}</ref> Prior to her arrest<ref name="SusanSample">{{cite web|url=http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/features/capecchi/ |title=Scientist Profile: Mario Capecchi |year=2007 |author=Susan Sample |publisher=[[University of Utah]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011012649/http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/features/capecchi/ |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref> she had made contingency plans by selling her belongings and giving the proceeds to a nearby peasant family to care for her child. However, it was not long before Mario ended up on the streets of Bolzano.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2007/capecchi/biographical/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007|website=NobelPrize.org|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Hont_2007">{{cite journal | vauthors = Hont G | title = Från gatubarn till Nobelpristagare. Mario Capecchis liv--en askungesaga |trans-title= From street child to Nobel Prize winner. Mario Capecchi's life--a Cinderella story | journal = Läkartidningen | volume = 104 | issue = 51–52 | pages = 3905–3907| date = December 2007 | doi = |url= https://lakartidningen.se/aktuellt/kultur-2/2007/12/fran-gatubarn-till-nobelpristagare/ |language= Swedish|pmid = 18232538| pmc= }}</ref> In July 1942, a few months before his fifth birthday, Italian records suggest he was reunited with his father in Reggio Emilia, which Mario did confirm but stated that he stayed with his father for only for a few brief periods <ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/2007/11/6/20051915/nobelist-s-tales-of-wartime-have-inconsistencies|title=Nobelist's tales of wartime have inconsistencies|agency=Associated Press|date=6 November 2007|website=Deseret News|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref> and that he mostly lived on the streets until he was placed in an orphanage towards the end of the war.

Mario almost died of malnutrition. His mother survived the war in Germany (part of the reason the details of his early life are unclear is that she would never talk about her experiences), and when it ended she began a year-long search for him. She finally found him on his ninth birthday in a hospital bed in Reggio Emilia ill with a fever and subsisting on a daily bowl of [[chicory]] coffee and bread crust. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath since he had left her care and where, with money sent by his uncle, [[Edward Ramberg]], an American physicist at [[RCA]], they made arrangements to depart to the United States. He and his mother moved to [[Pennsylvania]] to live at an "intentionally cooperative community" called [[Bryn Gweled]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/r/ramberg.htm|publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]]|title=Edward G. Ramberg Papers|author=American Philosophical Society}}</ref> which had been co-founded by his uncle.  (Capecchi's other maternal uncle, Walter Ramberg, was also a prominent American physicist<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1985/10/24/obituaries/cfe8aa87-2f89-4d9a-9236-10dfa07bb8ca/ |title=Obituaries |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= |accessdate=2022-06-11}}</ref>). He graduated from [[George School]], a Quaker boarding school in [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania]], in 1956.<ref name="SusanSample"/>

Capecchi received his [[Bachelor of Science]] in [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] in 1961 from [[Antioch College]] in [[Ohio]]. Capecchi came to [[MIT]] as a graduate student intending to study physics and mathematics,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article3041565.ece|publisher=[[Belfast Telegraph]]|title=Mario Capecchi: The man who changed our world|author=Andrew Gumbel|date=2007-10-09}}</ref> but during the course of his studies, he became interested in molecular biology. His change of interest was driven by the preference of working with few scientists and conducting experiments that did not require the use of big machines. He subsequently transferred to Harvard to join the lab of [[James D. Watson]], co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N46/nobel.html|title=Two Nobel Prize Winners MIT-Affiliated|author=Arkajit Dey|date=2007-10-16|newspaper=[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]]}}</ref> Capecchi received his [[PhD]] in [[biophysics]] in 1967<ref name="capecchiphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Mario|last=Capecchi |title=On the Mechanism of Suppression and Polypeptide Chain Initiation |publisher=Harvard University |date=1967 |author-link=Mario Capecchi|id={{ProQuest|302261581}}}}</ref> from [[Harvard University]], with his doctoral thesis completed under the tutelage of Watson.

Capecchi was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University from 1967 to 1969. In 1969 he became an assistant professor in the Department of [[Biochemistry]] at [[Harvard Medical School]]. He was promoted to associate professor in 1971. In 1973 he joined the faculty at the University of Utah. Since 1988 Capecchi has also been an investigator of the [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]. He is a member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]. He has given a talk for [[Duke University]]'s Program in Genetics and Genomics as part of their Distinguished Lecturer Series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://upg.duke.edu/seminars/distinguished.html|title=Distinguished Lecture Series|publisher=[[Duke University]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908162503/http://upg.duke.edu/seminars/distinguished.html|archive-date=2007-09-08}}</ref> He was the speaker for the 2010 Racker Lectures in Biology & Medicine and Cornell Distinguished Lecture in Cell and Molecular Biology at [[Cornell University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://events.cornell.edu/event/mbg_annual_racker_lecture|title=MBG Annual Racker Lecture|publisher=[[Cornell University]]}}</ref> He is a member of the [[Italy-USA Foundation]].

After the Nobel committee publicly announced that Capecchi was awarded the Nobel prize, an Austrian woman named Marlene Bonelli claimed that Capecchi was her long-lost half-brother.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article3073785.ece|title=Reunion beckons for Nobel winner and his long lost step-sister|author=Peter Popham|date=2007-10-18|publisher=[[Belfast Telegraph]]}}</ref>
In May 2008, Capecchi met with Bonelli, then 69, in northern Italy, and confirmed that she was his sister.<ref>"'Looking at the pictures, it was obviously my sister,' Capecchi said, noting her resemblance to their mother."{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=5018719|title=Nobel Winner Reunited With Sister Lost in WWII|agency=Associated Press|date=2008-06-06|publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref>

==Knockout mice==

Capecchi was awarded the Nobel prize for creating a [[knockout mouse]]. This is a mouse, created by genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization, in which a particular gene has been turned off.<ref>[http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/science/transgenic/ University of Utah], Transgenic Mice</ref> For this work, Capecchi was awarded the 2007 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology, along with [[Martin Evans]] and [[Oliver Smithies]], who also contributed.

Capecchi has also pursued a systematic analysis of the mouse [[Hox gene]] family. This gene family plays a key role in the control of [[embryonic development]] in all [[multicellular animal]]s.  They determine the placement of cellular development in the proper order along the axis of the body from head to toe.

==Honours==
*1969 – [[Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry]]
*1992 – [[Bristol-Myers]] Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research
*1993 – [[Gairdner Foundation]] International Award for Achievements in Medical Sciences
*1993 – [[Gairdner Foundation International Award]]
*1994 – [[General Motors]] Cancer Research Foundation [[Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize]]
*1996 – [[Kyoto Prize]] in Basic Sciences
*1996 – German Molecular Bioanalytics Prize
*1997 – [[Franklin Medal]] for Advancing Our Knowledge of the Physical Sciences
*1998 – [[Feodor Lynen]] Lectureship
*1998 – [[Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence]]
*1998 – Baxter Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences
*1999 – Helen Lowe Bamberger Colby and John E. Bamberger Presidential Endowed Chair in the University of Utah Health Sciences Center
*2000 – Lectureship in the Life Sciences for the Collège de France
*2000 – [[Horace Mann]] Distinguished Alumni Award, Antioch College
*2000 – Italian Premio Phoenix-Anni Verdi for Genetics Research Award
*2001 – [[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]], co-winner with [[Martin Evans]] and [[Oliver Smithies]]<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/library/2001b_cit.shtml|title = 2001 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research|access-date = 2007-10-01|publisher = Lasker Foundation|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181605/http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/library/2001b_cit.shtml <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-30}}</ref>
*2001 – Spanish Jiménez-Diáz Prize
*2001 – Pioneers of Progress Award
*2001 – [[National Medal of Science]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=69|title=The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details &#124; NSF - National Science Foundation|website=www.nsf.gov}}</ref>
*2002 – John Scott Medal Award
*2002 – [[Massry Prize]] from the [[Keck School of Medicine]], [[University of Southern California]]
*2003 – [[AACR Awards|Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research]]
*2002–2003 – [[Wolf Prize in Medicine]]
*2005 – [[March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology]]
*2007 – Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award for Biotechnology and Medicine<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/rosenstiel/gabbay-award/past.html|title=Past Winners|website=www.brandeis.edu}}</ref>
*2007 – [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], co-winner with [[Martin Evans]] and [[Oliver Smithies]]<ref name="Nobel 2007"/>
*2008 – American Heart Association Distinguished Scientist Award
*2011 – Cátedra Santiago Grisolía Prize, Valencia Spain
*2011 – Mike Hogg Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
*2012 – [[UCSF]] medal <ref>{{cite web |title=UCSF Medal |url=https://chancellor.ucsf.edu/chancellor-awards/ucsf-medal |website=Office of the Chancellor |access-date=1 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
*2012 – Honorary Doctorate Degree, University of Bologna Medical School, Italy
*2013 – Honorary Doctorate Degree, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
*2013 – Honorary Doctorate Degree, Ben-Gurion University, Israel
*2013 – Trinity College Historical Society Gold Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Public Discourse, Dublin Ireland
*2014 – Keynote Speaker at the Congress of Future Medical Leaders
*2015 – American Association for Cancer Research Lifetime Achievement Award
*2017 – ISTT Prize from the [[International Society for Transgenic Technologies]]<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2017-09-01 |title=Program and Abstracts of the 14th Transgenic Technology Meeting (TT2017): Snowbird Resort, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 1–4 October 2017 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11248-017-0033-2 |journal=Transgenic Research |language=en |volume=26 |issue=S1 |pages=1–45 |doi=10.1007/s11248-017-0033-2 |pmid=28864935 |s2cid=32962450 |issn=0962-8819|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
*2024 – Honorary Doctorate Degree, Yale University, United States<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-20 |title=Yale awards nine honorary degrees |url=https://news.yale.edu/2024/05/20/yale-awards-nine-honorary-degrees |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=YaleNews |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/capecchi_bio.html Howard Hughes Medical Institute biography]
*[https://www.ibiology.org/genetics-and-gene-regulation/gene-targeting/ Mario Capecchi's Short Talk: "The Birth of Gene Targeting"]
* {{Nobelprize|name=Mario R. Capecchi}} including the Nobel Lecture on 7 December 2007 ''Gene Targeting 1977 - Present''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071011011144/http://www.genetics.utah.edu/faculty/mcapecchi.html Eccles Institute of Human Genetics biography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071011005858/http://www.neuroscience.med.utah.edu/Faculty/Capecchi.html University of Utah biography]
* [http://www.dnai.org/d/index.html?m=3,5 Interviews with Mario Capecchi from Dolan DNA Learning Center's ''DNA Interactive'']
* [http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/41/concept/index.html Capecchi animation from Dolan DNA Learning Center's ''DNA from the Beginning'']
* [http://twit.tv/fib63 Interview with Dr Capecchi ''Futures in Biotech 63: How To Use A Mouse'']

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 2001-2025}}
{{Wolf Prize in Medicine}}
{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|biological}}
{{Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry}}
{{2007 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capecchi, Mario}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Verona]]
[[Category:American geneticists]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Antioch College alumni]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:Italian Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Utah faculty]]
[[Category:Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Medicine laureates]]
[[Category:Scientists from Salt Lake City]]
[[Category:21st-century Italian inventors]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Homeless people]]
[[Category:Street children]]
[[Category:Massry Prize recipients]]
[[Category:George School alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]