Cedar, Chaim
CEDAR, CHAIM
CEDAR, CHAIM (1943– ), Israeli geneticist. Cedar was born in New York City and received his B.Sc. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D. and Ph.D. in microbiology from New York University Medical School. After research training in neurobiology at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, he immigrated to Israel (1973), where he joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, becoming full professor in 1978. His research interests concern gene regulation and include the key original observation that chemical modification of dna (a process termed methylation) determines which genes become active in normal development. His work has fundamental implications for understanding normal development, immune responses, selective chromosome activation ("imprinting"), cloning, and cancer research. Cedar also made major contributions to genetics teaching and science administration in Israel. His many honors include the Israel Prize (1999) and election to the Israel Academy of Sciences (2003).
[Michael Denman (2nd ed.)]