Professor Dr. Sakol Panyim TRF Senior Research Scholar (Molecular Biology) Year 2003   Biography and Research Summary Professor Sakol Panyim was born on March 31, 1943 in Angthong Province. He was awarded a Thai government scholarship to study in the U.S.A. where he received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967 and a doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of lowa in 1971. On his return to Thailand in 1971 he worked in the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University and became an assistant professor in 1975. He went to Switzerland as a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in 1977. He was the chairman of the Department of Biochemistry between 1984-1988 and 1988-2003, the director of the Institute of molecular Biology and Genetics, Mahidol University. He was awarded the Thailand Outstandling Scientist Award in 1985 and won the first prize in Scientific Invention Award in 1996. He was married to Poonpan Attanandana and has three sons.   Dr. Sakol Panyim has published 147 international papers from his scientific interests ranging fron the structure and function of histones, mosquitolarvicidaÊ genes, growth hormone genes, DNA probes to differentiate mosquito sibling species and DNA technology for the diagnosis of infectious diseases of humans and animals, and DNA fingerprinting. He developed an electrophoretic method demonstration that there are five types of histones in animals and plants, This research finding received over 2,558 science citations. He led a scientific group to successfully clone and sequence the genes from Bacillus thuringiensis which specilically kills mosquito larvae. His group also successfully cloned and sequenced the growth hormone gene from a giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) and humans. The growth hormone was produced in a large quantity and exhibited growth promoting activity. The specific repetitive DNA found in Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax led to the development of a highly sensitive PCR method to diagnose human malaria at the level of 1 parasite per microlitre blood. A study on infectious agents that caused high mortality in Penaeus monodon revealed and RNA virus and DNA virus. The specific nucleotide sequence of the RNA and DNA viruses led to a highly sensitive detection method for the causative agents.