Winner of 2010 Anatrace Membrane Protein Award

Affymetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) today announced that Professor Tom Rapoport of Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute is the winner of the 2010 Anatrace Membrane Protein Award. The award was presented at the Biophysical Society annual meeting in San Francisco and is sponsored by Anatrace, which is now part of Affymetrix.

“Part of our mission is to deliver highly purified reagents to further scientific discovery. We are honored to be able to recognize Professor Rapoport’s work and to be a part of his research.”

The Anatrace Membrane Protein Award recognizes the scientist who has made the most outstanding contribution to understanding the structure or function of membrane proteins. Professor Rapoport’s work has clarified the mechanism by which proteins cross membranes and is the first to determine the structure of a protein-conducting channel.

The Rapoport group has also addressed how incorrectly folded proteins are transported through a membrane for cytosolic degradation, an important process in many diseases, and the mechanism by which the characteristic shape of an organelle is achieved. All of these projects concern fundamental aspects of membrane biology.

Tom Rapoport was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005 and has spent much of his career studying protein translocation and other aspects of membrane biology. His laboratory has published many articles in leading journals, often using Anatrace products from Affymetrix.

“Professor Rapoport’s work clarifying the role of structure in protein function is an important finding as we seek to better understand the onset of disease,” said Kristin Yakimow, senior vice president and general manager of Affymetrix reagents. “Part of our mission is to deliver highly purified reagents to further scientific discovery. We are honored to be able to recognize Professor Rapoport’s work and to be a part of his research.”

Source: Affymetrix, Inc.