| 1 | Name: | Dr. James E. Darnell | |
| Institution: | Rockefeller University | ||
| Year Elected: | 2013 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1930 | ||
Born in Columbus, MS in 1930 Darnell attended local schools and the University of Mississippi, graduating in January 1951. He entered Washington University St. Louis School of Medicine, a "science-based" medical school in 1951, and by 1952 was engaged in microbiological research. After a one year internship he joined the laboratory of Harry Eagle, a pioneer in culturing human cells in culture at the National Institutes of Heath. At NIH he began an early career in animal virology, using cultured cells. An interlude of 11 months with Francois Jacob in 1960-61 taught him about the maturing state of molecular biology, especially the importance of the new discovery of messenger RNA. On returning to his first independent position at MIT in June 1961, he began the study of human (mammalian) cell RNA which he has continued for over 50 years. His research discovered the first cases of RNA processing in ribosomal and transfer RNA. First, a longer primary transcript is copied from DNA and then processed into shorter molecules that function in the cell cytoplasm to direct the synthesis of specific proteins. Studies on the primary nuclear transcript of precursor mRNAs produced during adenovirus infection supplied much of the original evidence that in the nucleus cells process adenovirus pre-mRNA into mRNA paving the way for the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of RNA splicing by Phillip Sharp, Richard Roberts and their colleagues. In the 1980s he began the study of DNA binding transcriptional factors including those activated by reception of signals from cell surface proteins. The far-reaching results from these later experiments culminated in the description of the first complete cell surface to nucleus signal transduction pathway: the JAK-STAT pathway. Dr. Darnell has had academic appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Columbia University. In 1974 Dr. Darnell joined Rockefeller as Vincent Astor Professor, and from 1990 to 1991 he was vice president for academic affairs. He was instrumental in the 1980s and 1990s in establishing a new focus in hiring young independent faculty, a now accepted mechanism in university practice. Dr. Darnell has received numerous awards, including the 2012 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the 2003 National Medal of Science, the 2002 Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science, the 1997 Passano Award, the 1994 Paul Janssen Prize in Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and the 1986 Gairdner Foundation International Award. He has received honorary degrees from Washington University (1996), Albany Medical College (2000) and The Rockefeller University (2012) He is the author of the recently published RNA: Life’s Indispensable Molecule. He is also coauthor, with S.E. Luria, of General Virology, and a founding author of Molecular Cell Biology, now in its seventh edition. Dr. Darnell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1973), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1973), a foreign member of The Royal Society of London (1986), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2004). He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2013. | |||