American biochemist and Nobel laureate Irwin Rose has died at the age of 88, said the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where Rose had been a researcher.

According to his family members, Rose passed away in his sleep on Tuesday in Deerfield , Massachusetts.

Rose was the winner of the 2004 Noble Prize in Chemistry, along with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko of the Israel Institute of Technology for his ground breaking work on enzymes that break down and dispose off unwanted proteins in plants and animals.

“We were honoured to have Rose grace our university Irvine community with his formidable intellect and unwavering curiosity about fundamental biological and chemical processes that are the foundation for life,” said UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman, while expressing condolences to his family.

His research helped scientists better understand molecular activities in cancer and other diseases.

Rose was born in Brooklyn and spent his teenage years in Spokane, Washington. He earned a doctoral degree at the University of Chicago in 1952 and spent most of his career as a research scientist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

After retiring to Laguna Beach, California, in 1997, Rose continued his studies with a special research position in UCI’s Department of Physiology and Biophysics, where he became a popular student mentor.