Kurt Wüthrich was born in Switzerland on October 4, 1938. He is married to Marianne Briner and has two children, Bernhard Andrew and Karin Lynn. He studied chemistry, physics and mathematics at the University of Bern from 57–62, and obtained the Eidgenössisches Turn- und Sportlehrerdiplom and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry with Prof. S. Fallab at the University of Basel in 64. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Basel until 65 (Prof. S. Fallab) and at the University of California in Berkeley, CA, USA, until 67 (Prof. R.E. Connick), and then a member of Technical Staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, USA (Dr. R.G. Shulman). In 69 he joined the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich Switzerland (Privatdozent 70, Assistant Professor 72, Associate Professor 76, Professor 80, Chairman of the Depart­ment of Biology 95–00), where he is currently a Professor of Biophysics. Since 2001 he shares his time between the ETH Zürich and The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), La Jolla, CA, USA, where he is currently the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Visiting Professor of Structural Biology.

Kurt Wüthrich's research interests are in molecular structural biology, and in structural and functional genomics. His specialty is high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with biological macromolecules. Wüthrich's contributions to techniques development include the NMR method for three-dimensional structure determination of proteins and nucleic acids in solution, heteronuclear filter techniques for studies of intermolecular interactions in supramolecular structures, NMR experiments for studies of macromolecular hydration in solution, and the extension of solution NMR studies to very large molecular weights with the use of transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) and cross-correlated relaxation-enhanced polarization transfer (CRINEPT). The Wüthrich group has solved more than 50 NMR structures of proteins and nucleic acids, including the immunosuppression system cyclophilin A–cyclosporin A, the homeodomain–operator DNA transcriptional regulation system, and the murine, human and bovine prion proteins. Wüthrich's bibliography includes over 600 papers and reviews, and three monographs: NMR in Biological Research: Peptides and Proteins, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976; NMR of Proteins and Nucleic Acids, Wiley, New York, 1986; NMR in Structural Biology, World Scientific, Singapore, 1995.

The Wüthrich group started work toward the NMR method for protein structure determination in the mid-seventies with studies on NOE build-up and spin diffusion in proteins, the introduction of the still widely used sinebell digital filter, the sequential assignment strategy for proteins and, in joint projects with R.R. Ernst, the development of two-dimensional NMR with biological macromolecules. A framework for NMR structure determination of proteins was formulated in 1982, which has so far proven sufficiently general to accommodate subsequent technical advances. Among the three-dimensional protein structures in solution solved by the Wüthrich laboratory, bull seminal proteinase inhibitor II was the first NMR structure of a globular protein, Tendamistat the first "high resolution" NMR structure of a protein, metallothionein the first NMR structure of a metalloprotein, the Antennapedia homeodomain–BS2 operator complex the first NMR structure determination of a protein–DNA complex, and the cyclosporin A–cyclophilin A system was of special interest for the field of immune suppression. Prion proteins (PrP) have become a major research focus of the Wüthrich laboratory since 1994, which resulted in the first three-dimensional structure obtained for this class of proteins in 1996, and subsequent structure determinations of a selected group of mammalian and non-mammalian prion proteins, including those from man, cattle and chicken, which now provide a framework for continued investigations of molecular aspects of the onset and the interspecies transmission of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. NMR characterization of biological macromolecules has fur­ther gone beyond three-dimensional structure determination: High resolution NMR studies of the electronic structure of the prosthetic groups in hemoproteins were a main research theme of Kurt Wüthrich from 1968 - 80. Investigations of biomacromolecular dynamics and conformational equilibria during the period 1973 - 95 include studies of aromatic ring flips, single-site investigations of amide proton exchange, structural and kinetic characterization of hydration water in proteins and nucleic acids in solution by high resolution NMR, and studies on the role of hydration waters in protein-DNA recognition. Work on the protein folding prob­lem includes the introduction of techniques for complete resonance assignment and structure determination of unfolded globular proteins, and NMR approaches for structural characterization of chaperonine-bound substrate proteins. The introduction of transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) in 1997 has made a wide spectrum of novel NMR experiments available for studies of biomacromolecular structures in solution. Among the new structural insights that have so far resulted from the use of TROSY-based technology in Wüthrich's laboratory are the discovery of scalar spin–spin couplings across the Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds in DNA, complete backbone NMR assignments for proteins in the size range 50-120 kDa, structure determinations of small membrane proteins reconstituted in water-soluble micelles, and data on in­termolecular contacts, dynamics and other aspects of the conformational states of individual macromolecular components in supramolecular structures with molecular weights in the range up to 800 kDa.

Wüthrich has been awarded the following honorary degrees: Dottore ad Honorem in Chimica by the Università degli Studi di Siena 97; Dr. phil. honoris causa by the Universität Zürich 97; Docteur honoris causa, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 01. He has been elected Member of EMBO 84, Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina 87, Member of the Academia Europaea 89, Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy 89, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences 92, Honorary Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of India 92, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 93, Honorary Member of the Japanese Biochemical Society 93, Honorary Member of the National Magnetic Resonance Society of India 98, Fellow of the AAAS 98, Associé étranger, Académie des Sciences, Institut de France 2000 and Member Schweizerische Akademie der Technischen Wissenschaften (SATW) 2001. His scientific achievements have been recognized by the following awards and prizes: Friedrich-Miescher-Preis of the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Biochemie 74; Shield of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo 83; Médaille P. Bruylants, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium 86; Stein and Moore Award of the Protein Society, USA 90; Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, Columbia University 91; G.N. Lewis Medal, University of California Berkeley 91; Marcel Benoist-Preis, awarded by the Swiss Confederation 92; Distinguished Service Award, The Miami Bio/Technology Winter Symposia, USA 93; Prix Louis Jeantet de Médecine, Fondation Louis Jeantet, Geneva 93; Kaj Linderstrøm-Lang Prize, Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen 96; Eminent Scientist of RIKEN, Tokyo 97; Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology, Inamori Foundation, Kyoto 98; Günther Laukien Prize, Experimental NMR Conference (ENC), USA 99; Otto-Warburg-Medaille, Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie, Germa­ny 99; Médaille d'Honneur en Argent, Société d'Encouragement au Progrès, Paris.

Wüthrich has held numerous endowed lectureships, and he had visiting faculty appointments at the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA, the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Tokyo, Japan, and the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Besides his research and teaching, Wüthrich was President of the Schweizerische Kommission für Molekularbiologie 77 - 82, Secretary General and Vice-President of IUPAB 78 - 87, a Member of the General Committee of ICSU 80 - 86 and the Standing Committee on the Free Circulation of Scientists of ICSU 82 - 90, President of the Biophysics Division of the Swiss Biochemical Society 85 - 88, President of the Zürcher Chemische Gesellschaft 90 - 91, and Chairman of the IUPAC Commission on Biophysical Chemistry 00 - 01. He has been an Editor of Q. Rev. Biophys., J. Biomol. NMR and Macromolecular Structures, and an Editorial Board Member of numerous additional science journals. Wüthrich is on the Scientific Advisory Boards of major Research Institutions in Europe and in the Far East, and is a Consultant for Companies in Europe and the USA.

TH, 11-22-2001