Joel Sussman


Joel L. Sussman is an Israeli crystallographer best known for his studies on acetylcholinesterase, a key protein involved in transmission of nerve signals. He is Professor Emeritus of Structural Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and is Co-Director of the Israel Structural Proteomics Center.

Early life and education

Sussman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1965, Sussman received his B.A. at Cornell University in math and physics. He received his PhD from MIT in biophysics in 1972, under Cyrus Levinthal. He postdocted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1972, with Yehuda Lapidot, and at Duke University in 1973-76 with Sung-Hou Kim.

Appointments and positions held

Sussman has been a Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science since 1976.
  • 1984–85 – Head, Department of Structural Chemistry
  • 1988–89 – Head, Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly
  • 2002–14 – Incumbent of the Morton and Gladys Pickman Chair of Structural Biology
  • 2016-now – Professor Emeritus
In 1994–99, he was also the director of the Protein Data Bank at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Scientific interests and contributions

Sussman was a pioneer of macromolecular refinement, developing CORELS and applying it to yeast tRNAphe. He subsequently determined the structures of 'bulge'-containing DNA fragments as models for insertion mutations.
Sussman's current research focuses on nervous system proteins, especially acetylcholinesterase, whose 3D structure was first determined in his lab. This structure revealed:
He has investigated the molecular basis as to how proteins function under extreme conditions with unexpected implications for kidney diseases. He determined the structures of Glucocerebrosidase, a protein defective in Gaucher disease, paving the way to novel therapeutic approaches, and of paraoxonase, a protein relevant to treatment of atherosclerosis.

Honors and awards