Biography

Dr. Richard J. Roberts is an eminent molecular biologist and the 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He is currently Research Director at the New England Biolabs in Massachusetts, USA.

Dr. Roberts was born in Derby, England in 1943. He obtained a BSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Organic Chemistry in the University of Sheffield in 1965 and 1968 respectively. After finishing postdoctoral research at Harvard University in 1972, he began to work for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

In 1977, Dr. Roberts discovered that the genes of the adenovirus are discontinuous, that is, a given gene could be present in the genetic material (DNA) as several, well-separated segments. It has since been established that this split gene structure is common in higher organisms. The discovery of split genes has been of fundamental importance for today's basic research in biology, as well as medical research on cancer and genetic diseases.

The discovery of split genes earned Dr. Roberts the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993, shared with Professor Phillip A. Sharp. He will be conferred the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa by The Chinese University of Hong Kong in December, 2005.

Dr. Roberts' current research is in bioinformatics and the discovery and mechanism of restriction-modification systems from bacteria.