Mark Ptashne, PhD, holds the Ludwig Chair of Molecular Biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Before coming to New York in 1997 he was the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology at Harvard University. Dr. Ptashne, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, has won numerous awards for his work on the mechanisms of gene regulation, including le Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer, l’Academie des Science, Paris, France; the US Steel foundation Award in Molecular Biology; the Gairder Foundation International Award; the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize of Columbia University; the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Sloan Prize, the Massry Prize, and the Lasker Award for Basic Research. He is a co-founder of the biotechnology companies Genetics Institute (now part of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals) and Acceleron, both located in Cambridge, Mass. In addition to his many research papers, Ptashne has written two books: A Genetic Switch (now in its third edition) and Genes and Signals (co-authored with Alex Gann). Ptashne is a member of the board of Opus 118, an organization that teaches music to students in Harlem, New York.

Dr. Ptashne is an accomplished violinist. He studied violin privately with Roman Totenberg and Eric Rosenblith in Boston, and with Patty Kopec  in New York. He now studies with Mela Tenenbaum in Brooklyn, New York. He is a past participant in The Roundtop Music festival (Roundtop, Tx); the Hurwitz Camber Music Festival (Cinque Terra, Italy); Yellow Barn Music Festival (Putney, Vermont); and he is a present participant in the IMAI Festival, Fryeburg, Maine, and the Indian River Festival on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Ptaschne performed the Bach Double Violin Concerto in the Hermitage in St Petersburgh, Russia with the St Petersburgh Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Vladimir Altschuler, conductor, this year.