Philip Andrew Hieter

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada~Professor of Medical Genetics. Responsible for much of the progress in yeast genetics related to molecules and mechanisms affecting chromosome biology, critical aspects of mitosis, and genome stability. Work on the functional dissection of yeast centromere DNA led to the discovery of genes with roles in chromosome transmission fidelity and in cell-cycle progression. His so-called ctf genes led him to discover protein components of kinetochores, which link chromosomes to the mitotic spindle, and the roles of ubiquitinylation and sumoylation in controlling kinetochore function. The ctf genes included a trio encoding a protein complex responsible for loading the glue that keeps newly replicated chromosomes together early in the cell cycle, as well as the anaphase promoting complex, which regulates the dissolution of that glue. Codiscovered the contribution of chromatid cohesion defects in human cancer. Major spokesperson for the value of yeast and other model organisms for understanding mechanisms of human disease. Contributions to genetic technology include the most widely used vector series in yeast genetics, physical mapping methods for genome analysis, cross-indexing of yeast and human disease genes, and, recently, the application of synthetic lethality screens to find new drug targets for killing cancer cells.~