Arber, Werner (vĕr`nər är`bər), 1929–, Swiss microbiologist. A professor at the Univ. of Geneva (1960–70) and later at the Univ. of Basel (1971–), Arber worked with Daniel Nathans Nathans, Daniel, 1928–99, American microbiologist, b. Wilmington, Del., M.D. Washington Univ., St. Louis, 1954. He became a professor at Johns Hopkins Univ. in 1962. Nathans worked with Werner Arber and Hamilton Othanel Smith in studying the nature of genes.
..... Click the link for more information. and Hamilton Othanel Smith Smith, Hamilton Othanel, 1931–, American biologist, b. New York City, M.D. Johns Hopkins Univ., 1956. A professor at the Univ. of Michigan and Johns Hopkins Univ., Smith worked with Daniel Nathans and Werner Arber studying the nature of genes.
..... Click the link for more information. to understand the nature of genes. The trio discovered and used certain enzymes that break down genetic material in order to study hereditary mutation in bacteria. For their work the three shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Arber, Werner

(born June 3, 1929, Gränichen, Switz.) Swiss microbiologist. He has taught chiefly at the University of Basel. He shared a 1978 Nobel Prize with Daniel Nathans and Hamilton O. Smith for the discovery and use of restriction enzymes that break the giant molecules of DNA into pieces small enough to be separated for individual study but large enough to retain meaningful amounts of the genetic information of the original substance. He also observed that bacteriophages cause mutation in their bacterial hosts and undergo hereditary mutations themselves.