Researcher

Andrew Fire

Profile

Andrew Fire is an American biologist at Stanford University who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Craig Mello for their discovery of RNA interference (RNAi), a gene-silencing mechanism triggered by double-stranded RNA. Their landmark 1998 paper in Nature demonstrated that double-stranded RNA potently and specifically silences gene expression in C. elegans, a finding that transformed genetics and opened an entirely new therapeutic modality. RNAi has since become one of the most widely used tools in molecular biology for studying gene function, and RNAi-based drugs have now entered clinical use for conditions such as transthyretin amyloidosis and hemophilia. Fire's work has spurred a multi-billion dollar industry in siRNA therapeutics. His research group continues to investigate the mechanisms of RNAi and transposable element silencing. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies—including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals—depend on the foundational science from his laboratory for the design of RNA-based therapeutics targeting genetic diseases.

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