Common Life

• Born on October 6th, 1937 in Verona, Italy
• At 4 years old, he was an orphaned child living in the streets because his mom got captured in Germany during World War II
• Immigrated to the U.S. when he was 9 years old with his mom
• Went to Antioch College to get Bachelor of Science
• At first he wanted to major in political science, but changed to physical science and then to chemistry and physics
• Attended Harvard Medical school and graduated in 1967 with a Doctoral degreee in biophysics
• His thesis work was under James Watson about the initiation of protien synthesis and mechanisms of protien termination
• He's still alive!
• Currently a Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Utah

Family

• His mother, Lucy Ramberg, was a poet and his father, Luciano Capecci was an officer in the Italian Airforce
• They had a passionate love affair but his mother would not marry his father
• His aunt and uncle taught him values and English once he got to America to live with them
• His wife is named Laurie Fraser and they have a daughter together named Misha
• Laurie and Mario live in Utah and their daughter is graduating college this year

Accomplishments

• Contributions in understanding genetics and gene expression
• Established a method to inactivate target genes in mice and successfully breed "knock out" mice to study gene function
• Method still used today and its application has benefited many other areas of science
• Worked out mechanisms of chain termination in protien synthesis and methods for gene replacement
• Inserted mutated DNA into animal cells through the process of homologous recombination

Awards

• Member of National Academy of Science (1991) and the European Acacemy of Sciences (2002)
• Bristol-Myers Squibb award for Distinguished Achievement in Nueroscience Research (1992)
• Kyoto Prize in Basic Science (1996)
• The National Medal of Science (2001)
• Nobel Peace Prize in Physiology and Medicine (2007)
• There's so many more that aren't named here!

Sources Cited

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2007/capecchi-bio.html

http://capecchi.genetics.utah.edu/capecchi.html

http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/scic/BiographiesDetailsPage/BiographiesDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=SCIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Biographies&limiter=&u=hess_hs&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=SCIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK2433100035