Mario Capecchi life and biography

Mario Capecchi is an Italian-born American molecular geneticist and a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method for introducing homologous recombination in mice employing embryonic stem cells, with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.

As a child, Mario Capecchi spent ages 3 through 7 homeless and unattended, living on the streets after Nazis seized and imprisoned his mother. They were reunited after World War II, but his mother's mental health had been shattered, and she never recovered. Capecchi was brought to America and raised by relatives in Pennsylvania, who immersed him in school at the age of 9 despite his inability to read, write, or speak English. He grew up to become a biophysicist, best known for his groundbreaking work in gene targeting in mouse embryo-derived stem cells.

Capecchi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2007. His work involves finding ways to manipulate the mammalian genome by inserting new genes into cells, and has led to the breeding of "knock-out mice" and "knock-in mice" -- animals with a single gene removed or inserted. Dr. Capecchi's Nobel honors were shared with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.

Prizes:
Kyoto Prize 1996
National Medal of Science 2001
Lasker Award 2001 (with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies)
Wolf Prize in Medicine 2003 (with Ralph L. Brinster and Oliver Smithies)
Nobel Prize for Medicine 2007 (with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society for Microbiology
European Academy of Sciences
Genetics Society of America
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (1988-)
National Academy of Sciences
Naturalized US Citizen

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