Subdivision
| • | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | [X] |
| | 1 | Name: | Dr. John Abelson | | | Institution: | California Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2001 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1938 | | | | | | |
John Norman Abelson has made major contributions to our understanding of molecular biology and biochemistry. A pioneer in recombinant DNA technology, he focused early on on mutagenic bacterial viruses and on RNA sequencing. Later he discovered intervening sequences in t-RNA and worked out the mechanisms involved in t-RNA splicing. His laboratory named and characterized the "spliceozyme" required for messenger RNA processing in yeast, and he remains a leader in characterizing the structure and function of this "molecular machine." Dr. Abelson has served the scientific community in a variety of positions. Since 1995 he has been George Beadle Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He has received many honors and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1980-81). He earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1965. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Thomas R. Cech | | | Institution: | University of Colorado, Boulder; Howard Hughes Medical Institute | | | Year Elected: | 2001 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1947 | | | | | | |
Tom Cech is one of the world's leading biochemists and the discoverer of the enzymatic activity of RNA, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989. He is a marvelous teacher, dedicated to education at all levels, and a distinguished spokesman for science. President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) from 2000-2009, Dr. Cech is presently an HHMI investigator serving on the faculties of the University of Colorado (since 1978) and the Health Sciences Center, Denver (since 1988). He is the recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award (1988); the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1988); the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (1988); and the National Medal of Science (1995) and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1987); the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1988); and the Institute of Medicine (2000). | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. Judith P. Klinman | | | Institution: | University of California, Berkeley | | | Year Elected: | 2001 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1941 | | | | | | |
Judith Klinman has made significant contributions to our understanding of enzyme function, including two fundamental discoveries, rare events in the field of enzymology: a new redox cofactor in eukaryotes and the unanticipated demonstration of hydrogen tunneling in enzymatic reactions. The latter provides an experimental link to the role of protein motions in catalysis. In addition, she has been a leader in utilizing isotope effects to probe enzymatic reaction mechanisms and has also begun to unravel the mechanism of copper dependent biological redox reactions. Her approach amply demonstrates the rewards of applying the principles and tools of physical organic chemistry to biological sciences. Dr. Klinman has worked at the Institute of Cancer Research (1972-78) and the University of Pennsylvania (1974-78); since 1982 she has been professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also chaired the department of chemistry (2000-03) and serves as professor of molecular and cell biology. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences; the National Academy of Sciences; the American Chemical Society; the Protein Society; the Biophysics Society; and the American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (president, 1998). In 2014 she was awarded the National Medal of Science. | |
| 4 | Name: | Dr. Marshall Nirenberg | | | Institution: | National Institutes of Health | | | Year Elected: | 2001 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1927 | | | Death Date: | January 15, 2010 | | | | | | |
Marshall Nirenberg received a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1957. He began his career with the National Institutes of Health in 1957 as a postdoctoral fellow, and joined the staff in 1960. He has been a research biochemist and chief of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, at the National Institutes of Health since 1962. Marshall Nirenberg and his coworkers deciphered the genetic code. First, they determined the base compositions of RNA codons by directing cell free protein synthesis with randomly-ordered synthetic polyribonucleotides; then, they determined the nucleotide sequences of RNA codons by directing the binding of aminoacyl-t RNA to ribosomes with trinucleotides of known sequence. They also showed that single-stranded RNA, but not double- or triple-stranded RNA, is a template for protein synthesis. Dr. Nirenberg and his colleagues discovered and characterized Drosophila and mouse homeobox genes. He has focused on one of the Drosophila homeobox genes, vnd-NK-2, which initiates the neural pathway of development in the ventral portion of the neuroectoderm and gives rise to part of the ventral nerve cord. Current studies focus on determining how a pattern of neuroblasts that express the vnd-NK-2 gene is formed in the central nervous system. Dr. Nirenberg, with Robert Holley and Har Khorana, received the Nobel Prize in 1968 for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis. He is also the recipient of the Molecular Biology Award of the National Academy of Sciences in 1962, the National Medal of Science, Hildebrand Award of the American Chemical Society, Gairdner Foundation Award, Prix Charles Leopold Meyer of the French Academy of Sciences, Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute, Albert Lasker Award, Priestly Award, and the Louisa Gross Horowitz Prize. Dr. Nirenberg is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, and Leopoldina Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2001. | |
| 5 | Name: | Dr. Arthur B. Pardee | | | Institution: | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 2001 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1921 | | | Death Date: | February 24, 2019 | | | | | | |
Arthur Beck Pardee received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1947. He was an assistant and associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley from 1949-61 and professor of biochemical sciences and Donner Professor of Science at Princeton University from 1961-75. He was a senior postdoctoral fellow at the Pasteur Institute, France from 1957-58 and an American Cancer Society Scholar at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory, London, from 1972-73. In 1975 he moved to Cambridge to serve as Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Cell Growth and Regulation at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. From 1997 on he was professor emeritus at Harvard.
Arthur Pardee's early work was in bacterial biochemistry. His studies on growth regulation led to discoveries of repression of gene transcription, feedback inhibition, and allosteric regulation. He next turned to cancer and identified the restriction point, a major regulatory checkpoint that must be bypassed before cells can initiate DNA synthesis. He demonstrated that an unstable protein must be synthesized for a cell to enter S phase, a process defective in cancer cells. He identified cyclin E as the potential restriction point protein, and factor in growth control at the G1/S boundary. An important technical contribution was the development of "differential display," a method that identifies differences in gene expression in various cells and tissues. Dr. Pardee was a recipient of the Paul Lewis Award of the American Chemical Society, the Sir H. A. Krebs Medal, the Rosensteil Medal, the FASEB 3B Award, the CIT Award, the Boehringer-Mannheim Bioanalytica Award, and the Outstanding Alumnus Award of the California Institute of Technology. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Japanese Biochemical Society, the American Society of Biological Chemists (president, 1980), and the American Association for Cancer Research (president, 1985). He was member of the Cancer Institute Scientific Committee and served on the scientific board of the Worcester Foundation. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2001. Arthur Pardee died February 24, 2019 at the age of 97. | |
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