Irwin Rose

• Born: July 16, 1926
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: June 2, 2015
• Place of death: Deerfield, Massachusetts

Scientist

Rose won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research of protein regulation and the polypeptide ubiquitin. His discoveries led to a better understanding of how the human body works at the molecular level and how the human immune system fights diseases.

Area of achievement: Science and technology

Early Life

Irwin Rose was born on July 16, 1926, in New York City's Brooklyn borough. His mother was Ella Greenwald, who was born in Hungary. His father was Harry Royze, who was from the Odessa region of Russia. Rose grew up in a secular Jewish family with limited instruction in Judaism. However, he did study Hebrew when he was young in order to please his grandfather.

Rose’s early life in elementary school was standard. He enjoyed the variety of cultures he found in his public school, even though gangs populated the area surrounding his neighborhood. Most of his extracurricular activities consisted of playing handball and contributing to the war effort. World War II was just getting underway when Rose was young.

Rose moved out of Brooklyn in 1939 at the age of thirteen. His brother had been suffering from rheumatic fever, and the Roses were told to move to a drier climate to alleviate the boy’s symptoms. They took off for Spokane, Washington, where they had family ties. Rose’s father stayed behind to continue working in the flooring industry. It was something Rose did not understand but accepted.

Rose’s interests in biology began early. He worked during the summer at a hospital, though his job did not immediately relate to physical biology but rather to mental health. He was employed in the psychiatric ward.

After high school in Spokane, Rose attended Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, for a year before entering the Navy during the war. After returning to the United States, he enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1948, followed by a doctorate in biochemistry in 1952.

Life’s Work

Rose began to think about which studies to take seriously in college when he entered Washington State. He originally had wanted to focus on how the brain works; but upon returning to school at the University of Chicago, he instead shifted his focus to the study of animals. He designed his doctorate thesis around nucleic acid and Escherichia coli (E. coli).

In 1975, however, Rose shifted his focus to ubiquitin and other proteins. It was during this time that Rose began research that would earn him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004 for his explanation about how a cell can regulate proteins.

Rose’s discovery—helped along by biologists Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko—was important because it demonstrated how dependent the human cell is on proteins. Rose found that cells, which have several important functions that relate to disease immunity and cell form and structure, can choose which proteins they want to keep and which they want to dispose of by marking unnecessary proteins with ubiquitin. A polypeptide, ubiquitin thus helps break down these unwanted proteins. After receiving the Nobel Prize, Irwin continued to work and to do research. He was employed as a distinguished professor in residence and researcher by the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California’s School of Medicine at Irvine. In addition to research and writing papers, he would often assist students in completing their lab work and studies.

Rose died at the home of one of his sons in Deerfield, Massachusetts, on June 2, 2015, at the age of eighty-eight.

Significance

Rose’s ability to demonstrate the protein-regulating system was a great victory for biologists. The discovery allowed other scientists to understand how the human body controls such important cellular processes. It later led to a better understanding of cell cycles, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair, and protein quality control. Another important payoff was the ability to understand the human body’s immune system, which helps scientists who are searching for cures for diseases, such as some forms of cancer; in 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the drug Velcade for treatment of multiple myeloma. The full ramifications of Rose’s discovery have not yet been realized, but his discovery of ubiquitin and his ability to explain how proteins function in the human body could lead to lifesaving advances in science.

Bibliography

Chang, Kenneth. "Irwin A. Rose, Nobel-Winning Biochemist, Dies at 88." The New York Times, 2 June 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/science/irwin-rose-nobel-winning-biochemist-dies-at-88.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.

Giles, Jim. “Chemistry Nobel for Trio Who Revealed Molecular Death-Tag.” Nature, 13 Oct. 2004, www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7010/full/431729a.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017. This magazine article explains the significance of the discoveries of Rose and two other biologists who won the Nobel Prize.

Neilan, Terrence. “Two Israelis and an American Share Nobel in Chemistry.” The New York Times, 6 Oct. 2004, www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/science/2-israelis-and-an-american-share-nobel-in-chemistry.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017. News article gives a cogent description of the significance of the work of Rose and his colleagues.

Rose, Irwin. “Early Work on the Ubiquitin Proteasome System: An Interview with Irwin Rose.” Cell Death and Differentiation, vol. 12, 2005, pp. 1162–66. A lengthy interview with Rose about his discoveries and his research. The writing is technical and based in science, but it offers up a descriptive account of the research with proteins and ubiquitin from Rose.

Weil, Martin. "Irwin Rose, Who Shared 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Dies at 88." The Washington Post, 3 June 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/irwin-rose-who-shared-2004-nobel-prize-in-chemistry-dies-at-88/2015/06/03/671a2ece-0996-11e5-95fd-d580f1c5d44e‗story.html?utm‗term=.9000edb136d9. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.