Paul Berg

Administrative Appointments

• NAS-CSIS Roundtable on Biotechnology & Bioterrorism, NAS-CSIS , (2001– 2004 )
• Chairman, Public Policy Cmte., American Society for Cell Biology , (1998– 2002 )

Honors and Awards

• Nobel Prize, Chemistry, Nobel Foundation (1980)
• Eli Lilly Award in Biochemistry, Eli Lilly (1959)
• California Scientist of the Year, State of California (1963)
• Henry J. Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University (1969, 1972)
• V.D. Mattia Prize for Molecular Biology, Roche Institute (NA)
• National Academy of Sciences, NAS (1966)
• Institute of Medicine, NAS (1974)
• President, American Society of Biological Chemists (1975)
• Honorary Dr. of Science, U. of Rochester, Yale U. (1978)
• Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, Lasker Foundation (1980)
• Foreign Member, French Academy of Sciences (1981)
• National Medal of Science, USA (1983)
• Member, American Philosophical Society (1983)
• Honorary Dr. of Science, Washington U. St. Louis (1986)
• National Library of Medicine Medal, National Library (1986)
• Honorary Dr. of Science, Oregon St. U. (1989)
• Fellow, American Assn. for Advancement of Science (1991)
• Foreign Member, Royal Society, London (1992)
• Honorary Dr. of Science, Penn State (1995)
• Member, Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1996)
• Sustained Leadership at Naitional Level, Research! America (2003)

Professional Education

• Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University Biochemistry (1952)
• B.S., Pennsylvania State University Biochemistry (1948)

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Biochemistry

Current Research Interests

For about 10 years until 2000, my lab’s research activities were focused on the mechanism of recombinational repair of double-strand breaks in DNA. We focused our efforts on two model systems: one involved the repair of restriction enzyme cleavages at specific mammalian chromosomal loci and the second explored the biochemical properties of purified yeast Rad51 protein, an essential catalyst for synapsing the broken ends of DNA with an intact homologue of that sequence. We also explored the roles of Rad52 and PRA (single-strand DNA binding protein) in the repair process.

In 2000, I became Emeritus Professor in Biochemistry and stepped down from the Directorship of the Beckman Center. Much of my activities since then have been involved in writing a biography of the genetics pioneer George Beadle, published in 2003, plus articles for other publications elaborating on Beadle’s legacy for today’s science. Over the years I have been and continue to be an activist in public policy issues affecting biomedical issues, e.g. recombinant DNA and more recently, issues concerning embryonic stem cells.

Publications

• Personal reflections on the origins and emergence of recombinant DNA technology. Berg P,  Mertz JE.  Genetics.  2010; 184 (1): 9-17
• Retrospective: Arthur Kornberg (1918-2007). Berg P,  Lehman IR.  Science.  2007; 318 (5856): 1564
• A genome-wide analysis of CpG dinucleotides in the human genome distinguishes two distinct classes of promoters. Saxonov S,  Berg P, Brutlag DL.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  2006; 103 (5): 1412-7
• Brilliant Science, Dark Politics, Uncertain Law Berg, P,  Jurimetrics.  2006; 46
• Origins of the human genome project: why sequence the human genome when 96% of it is junk? Berg P,  Am J Hum Genet.  2006; 79 (4): 603-5
• George Beadle: From Genes to Proteins Berg,P.,  Singer, M..  Nature Reviews Genetics.  2005; (January)
• Reflections on the Lasker prize for basic biomedical research. Berg P,  JAMA.  2005; 294 (11): 1419-20
• Aslilomar and Recombinant DNA Berg, P.,  www.nobel.se/chemistry/articles.  2004; (August)
• A Centennial: George W. Beadle, 1903-1989 Horowitz, N.,  Berg, P., Singer,M.,Lederberg, J.,Susman, M.,Doebley, J.,Crow, J..  Genetics.  2004; 166 1-10
• Moments of Discovery: My Favorite Experiments Berg, P.,  J.Biol.Chem..  2003; 278 40417-24
• Berg, P,  Singer, M..  George Beadle: An Uncommon Farmer.  2003;
• Moments of discovery: my favorite experiments. Berg P,  J Biol Chem.  2003; 278 (42): 40417-24
• Reflections on Asilomar 2 at Asilomar 3. Twenty-five years later. Berg P,  Perspect Biol Med.  2001; 44 (2): 183-5
• Rad51 uses one mechanism to drive DNA strand exchange in both directions. Namsaraev EA,  Berg P.  J Biol Chem.  2000; 275 (6): 3970-6
• Scientists and the Public: An Ambivalent Partnership Berg, P.,  Useful Knowledge, Amer. Phil. Soc..  1999; 71-78
• Interaction of Rad51 with ATP and Mg2+ induces a conformational change in Rad51. Namsaraev EA,  Berg P.  Biochemistry.  1998; 37 (34): 11932-9
• Binding of Rad51p to DNA. Interaction of Rad51p with single- and double-stranded DNA. Namsaraev EA,  Berg P.  J Biol Chem.  1998; 273 (11): 6177-82
• Analysis of gene targeting and intrachromosomal homologous recombination stimulated by genomic double-strand breaks in mouse embryonic stem cells. Donoho G,  Jasin M, Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1998; 18 (7): 4070-8
• Studies of the interaction between Rad52 protein and the yeast single-stranded DNA binding protein RPA. Hays SL,  Firmenich AA, Massey P, Banerjee R, Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1998; 18 (7): 4400-6
• Branch migration during Rad51-promoted strand exchange proceeds in either direction. Namsaraev EA,  Berg P.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  1998; 95 (18): 10477-81
• Inspired choices. Berg P,  Singer M.  Science.  1998; 282 (5390): 873-4
• Characterization of strand exchange activity of yeast Rad51 protein. Namsaraev E,  Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1997; 17 (9): 5359-68
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants defective in plasmid-chromosome recombination. Elias-Arnanz M,  Firmenich AA, Berg P.  Mol Gen Genet.  1996; 252 (5): 530-8
• The HIV nef protein associates with protein kinase C theta. Smith BL,  Krushelnycky BW, Mochly-Rosen D, Berg P.  J Biol Chem.  1996; 271 (28): 16753-7
• The recombinant DNA controversy: twenty years later. Berg P,  Singer MF.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  1995; 92 (20): 9011-3
• Co-chairman's remarks: reverse genetics: directed modification of DNA for functional analysis. Berg P,  Gene.  1993; 135 (1-2): 261-4
• Homologous recombination of copackaged retrovirus RNAs during reverse transcription. Stuhlmann H,  Berg P.  J Virol.  1992; 66 (4): 2378-88
• Rapid assembly and disassembly of complementary DNA strands through an equilibrium intermediate state mediated by A1 hnRNP protein. Pontius BW,  Berg P.  J Biol Chem.  1992; 267 (20): 13815-8
• Rapid renaturation of complementary DNA strands mediated by cationic detergents: a role for high-probability binding domains in enhancing the kinetics of molecular assembly processes. Pontius BW,  Berg P.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  1991; 88 (18): 8237-41
• Expression of the type 1 human immunodeficiency virus Nef protein in T cells prevents antigen receptor-mediated induction of interleukin 2 mRNA. Luria S,  Chambers I, Berg P.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  1991; 88 (12): 5326-30
• Reverse genetics: its origins & prospects. Berg P,  Biotechnology (N Y).  1991; 9 (4): 342-4
• The human genome initiative. All our collective ingenuity will be needed. Berg P,  FASEB J.  1991; 5 (1): 75
• Repair of deletions and double-strand gaps by homologous recombination in a mammalian in vitro system. Jessberger R,  Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1991; 11 (1): 445-57
• Gene targeting at the human CD4 locus by epitope addition. Jasin M,  Elledge SJ, Davis RW, Berg P.  Genes Dev.  1990; 4 (2): 157-66
• Transduction of cellular neo mRNA by retrovirus-mediated recombination. Stuhlmann H,  Dieckmann M, Berg P.  J Virol.  1990; 64 (12): 5783-96
• Renaturation of complementary DNA strands mediated by purified mammalian heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 protein: implications for a mechanism for rapid molecular assembly. Pontius BW,  Berg P.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  1990; 87 (21): 8403-7
• Cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding human galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase. Reichardt JK,  Berg P.  Mol Biol Med.  1988; 5 (2): 107-22
• Conservation of short patches of amino acid sequence amongst proteins with a common function but evolutionarily distinct origins: implications for cloning genes and for structure-function analysis. Reichardt JK,  Berg P.  Nucleic Acids Res.  1988; 16 (18): 9017-26
• Epstein-Barr virus shuttle vector for stable episomal replication of cDNA expression libraries in human cells. Margolskee RF,  Kavathas P, Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1988; 8 (7): 2837-47
• Homologous integration in mammalian cells without target gene selection. Jasin M,  Berg P.  Genes Dev.  1988; 2 (11): 1353-63
• Comparison of intron-dependent and intron-independent gene expression. Buchman AR,  Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1988; 8 (10): 4395-405
• DNA cross-linked by cisplatin: a new probe for the DNA repair defect in xeroderma pigmentosum. Chu G,  Berg P.  Mol Biol Med.  1987; 4 (5): 277-90
• Factors governing the expression of a bacterial gene in mammalian cells. Mulligan RC,  Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1981; 1 (5): 449-59
• Expression of the mouse dihydrofolate reductase complementary deoxyribonucleic acid in simian virus 40 vectors. Subramani S,  Mulligan R, Berg P.  Mol Cell Biol.  1981; 1 (9): 854-64