In memory of Michael J. Chamberlin
Michael J. Chamberlin, a longtime editorial board member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and a trailblazer in transcription research, passed away on November 1 at the age of 88. An active member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for nearly six decades, he was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Michael J. Chamberlin
Born on June 7, 1937, in Chicago, Chamberlin earned a B.S. in chemistry from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University. After earning his doctorate, he joined the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.
Chamberlin made foundational contributions to our understanding of RNA polymerases and transcription regulation. During graduate studies, he worked with Nobel laureate Paul Berg and became the first to isolate RNA polymerase from E. coli.
He demonstrated that RNA polymerases regulate gene activity, a concept that was not recognized at the time. Chamberlin showed that transcription starts when RNA polymerase binds to DNA at a specific promoter. In 1974, he published three papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that proposed a model for the initiation of RNA chain synthesis by RNA polymerase.
In 2021, the Stanford Medicine Alumni Association honored Chamberlin with the Arthur Kornberg and Paul Berg Lifetime Achievement Award in Biomedical Sciences.
Stanford’s video about Chamberlin’s legacy features Jasper Rine, a UC Berkeley professor of genetics and development, who notes that messenger RNA vaccines were made possible by Chamberlin’s early work on bacteriophage RNA polymerases in the 1970s and 1980s.
Colleagues remember Chamberlin as energized, intensely focused, enthusiastic, magnetically engaging, and warm. ASBMB President Joan Conaway lauded him as a trusted informal mentor and friend who supported her and her husband at the outset of their careers.
“Mike was special: a scientist of exceptional rigor and integrity who helped shape the transcription field and inspired many,” she said.
Chamberlin is survived by his wife, Caroline Kane, a professor in residence emerita at UC Berkeley, and by his brothers Peter, Steve, and Tom.
