Sylvy Kornberg

Sylvy Kornberg
Born1917 (1917)
Rochester, New York, U.S.
Died (aged 69)
Alma materUniversity of Rochester
Known forresearch on DNA replication and polyphosphate synthesis
SpouseArthur Kornberg
ChildrenRoger Kornberg, Thomas B. Kornberg, Kenneth Kornberg
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsNational Cancer Institute, Washington University in St. Louis, Stanford University
Academic advisorsWalter Bloor

Sylvy Kornberg née Sylvia Ruth Levy (1917–1986) was an American biochemist who carried out research on DNA replication and polyphosphate synthesis. She discovered and characterized polyphosphate kinase (PPK), an enzyme that helps build long chains of phosphate groups called polyphosphate (PolyP) that play a variety of metabolic and regulatory functions. She worked closely with her husband and research partner, Arthur Kornberg, contributing greatly to the characterization of DNA polymerization that earned him the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.