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Global Young Scientists Summit

Aaron Ciechanover

Meet Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Aaron Ciechanover, whose groundbreaking work on ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation earned him the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Last updated 3 August 2026

Aaron Ciechanover

Aaron Ciechanover, 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner, an older man with gray hair wearing a dark blue shirt.

Professor Aaron Ciechanover is Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. He completed his MSc and MD at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a doctorate in biological sciences at Technion. His collaboration with Avram Hershko and Irwin A. Rose led to the discovery that the covalent attachment of ubiquitin to a target protein signals it for degradation. They deciphered the mechanism of conjugation, described the general proteolytic functions of the system, and proposed a model according to which this modification serves as a recognition signal for a specific downstream protease. For their findings, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004.

Other accolades that Prof Ciechanover has received include the 2000 Albert Lasker Award, the 2006 Sir Hans Krebs Medal and the 2011 Humboldt Research Award. He is also a member of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the US National Academies of Sciences and of Medicine (Foreign Associate), the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Foreign Member).