Richard High Ebright is an American molecular biologist. He is Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University and Laboratory Director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.
Ebright received an A.B. summa cum laude in biology from Harvard University in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University in 1987. He was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows from 1984 to 1987.
Career
Ebright was appointed as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Rutgers University and as a Laboratory Director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology in 1987. He was co-appointed as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1997 to 2013.
Ebright has performed research on protein-DNA interaction, transcription initiation, transcription activation, and antibacterial drug discovery. Ebright's research results include the experimental demonstration that amino-acid-base contacts mediate DNA sequence recognition in protein–DNA interaction, the determination of the three-dimensional structural organization of the transcription initiation complex; the demonstration that initial transcription involves a "DNA scrunching" mechanism; the demonstration that transcription activation can proceed by a "recruitment" mechanism; and the identification of novel antibacterial drug targets in bacterial RNA polymerase.
In 1994 Ebright was awarded the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Schering-Plough Award for his research on transcription activation. In 1995 he received the Academic Press Walter J. Johnson Prize. In 2013 he received a National Institutes of Health MERIT Award. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 1996, the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2004, the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2011, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
Ebright has opposed the proliferation of laboratories working on biological weapons agents and has supported the strengthening of biosafety and biosecurity measures to reduce risks of release of biological weapons.
Ebright has opposed affirmative action, claiming that affirmative action by universities is racist.
Notable publications
Ebright, R.; Cossart, P.; Gicquel-Sanzey, B.; Beckwith, J. (1984). "Mutations that alter the DNA sequence specificity of the catabolite gene activator protein of E. coli". Nature. 311 (5983): 232–235. PMID 6090927. doi:10.1038/311232a0.
Blatter, E.; Ebright, Y.; Ebright, R. (1992). "Identification of an amino acid-base contact in the GCN4-DNA complex by bromouracil-mediated photocrosslinking". Nature. 359 (6396): 650–652. PMID 1406998. doi:10.1038/359650a0.
Heyduk, T.; Lee, J.; Ebright, Y.; Blatter, E.; Zhou, Y.; Ebright, R. (1993). "CAP interacts with RNA polymerase in solution in the absence of promoter DNA". Nature. 364 (6437): 548–549. PMID 8393148. doi:10.1038/364548a0.
Zhou, Y.; Busby, S.; Ebright, R. (1993). "Identification of the functional subunit of a dimeric transcription activator protein by use of "oriented heterodimers". Cell. 73 (2): 375–379. PMID 8477449. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(93)90236-J.
Chen, Y.; Ebright, Y.; Ebright, R. (1994). "Identification of the target of a transcription activator protein by protein-protein photocrosslinking". Science. 265 (5168): 90–92. PMID 8016656. doi:10.1126/science.8016656.
Blatter, E.; Ross, W.; Tang, H.; Gourse, R.; Ebright, R. (1994). "Domain organization of RNA polymerase α subunit: C-terminal 85 amino acids constitute a domain capable of dimerization and DNA binding". Cell. 78 (5): 889–896. PMID 8087855. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(94)90682-3.
Busby, S.; Ebright, R. (1994). "Promoter structure, promoter recognition, and transcription activation in prokaryotes". Cell. 79 (5): 743–746. PMID 8001112. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(94)90063-9.
Pendergrast, P. S.; Ebright, Y.; Ebright, R. (1994). "High-specificity DNA cleavage agent: design and application to kilobase and megabase DNA substrates". Science. 265 (5174): 959–961. PMID 8052855. doi:10.1126/science.8052855.
Niu, W.; Kim, Y.; Tau, G.; Heyduk, T.; Ebright, R. (1996). "Transcription activation at Class II CAP-dependent promoters: two interactions between CAP and RNA polymerase". Cell. 87 (6): 1123–1134. PMID 8978616. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81806-1.
Miller, A.; Wood, D.; Ebright, R.; Rothman-Denes, L. (1997). "RNA polymerase β': a target for DNA-binding-independent activation". Science. 275 (5306): 1655–1657. PMID 9054361. doi:10.1126/science.275.5306.1655.
Kim, T.-K.; Ebright, R.; Reinberg, D. (2000). "Mechanism of ATP-dependent promoter melting by transcription factor IIH". Science. 288 (5470): 1418–1421. PMID 10827951. doi:10.1126/science.288.5470.1418.
Naryshkin, N.; Revyakin, A.; Kim, Y.; Mekler, V.; Ebright, R. (2000). "Structural organization of the RNA polymerase-promoter open complex". Cell. 101 (6): 601–611. PMID 10892647. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80872-7.
Mukhopadhyay, J.; Kapanidis, A.; Mekler, V.; Kortkhonjia, E.; Ebright, Y.; Ebright, R. (2001). "Translocation of σ70 with RNA polymerase during transcription: fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay for movement relative to DNA". Cell. 106 (4): 453–463. PMID 11525731. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(01)00464-0.
Mekler, V.; Kortkhonjia, E.; Mukhopadhyay, J.; Knight, J.; Revyakin, A.; Kapanidis, A.; Niu, W.; Ebright, Y.; Levy, R.; Ebright, R. (2002). "Structural organization of bacterial RNA polymerase holoenzyme and the RNA polymerase-promoter open complex". Cell. 108 (5): 599–614. PMID 11893332. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(02)00667-0.
