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Profile Rank: Emeritus Professor
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Education
- PhD 1971, Princeton University
- BA, 1966, Biology, Harvard University
Research Summary
Fruit flies can learn. They can identify a specific chemical odor that they have experienced with electric shock and avoid it. Moreover, they can remember to avoid it for several days. Before closing his lab, the Quinn lab investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying learning acquisition and memory storage by inducing and selecting single-gene mutations that affect learning or memory, and by engineering transgenic fly strains that disrupt these processes.
William Quinn is no longer accepting students.
Education
- PhD 1970, Yale University
- BS, 1950, Biology, College of William and Mary
Research Summary
Before closing her lab, Mary Lou Pardue studied the ends of chromosomes — complex, dynamic nucleoprotein structures formed on long arrays of repeated DNA sequences, known as telomeres. She analyzed Drosophila telomeres, and discovered that they are maintained by special transposable elements called retrotransposons. The Drosophila telomeric retrotransposons are unusual transposable elements, and provide a link between telomeres and transposable elements that raises interesting questions about the evolution of both eukaryotic chromosomes and transposable elements.
Mary-Lou Pardue is no longer accepting students.
Awards
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 1985
- National Academy of Sciences, Member, 1983
Education
- PhD, University College London
- BS, 1974, Biochemistry, Aberdeen University, Scotland
Research Summary
Before closing her lab, Leona Samson studied alkylating agents, which are toxic chemicals used in chemotherapy that can damage DNA. To do so, she probed the large number of responsive genes that protect cells against alkylation toxicity. She also dissected the molecular mechanisms by which alkylating agents signal these very important downstream events.
Leona Samson is no longer accepting students.
Awards
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 2021
- Radcliffe Fellow, 2013-2014
- American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 2007
- National Academy of Medicine, Member, 2003
- American Cancer Society Research Professor, 2001-2011
Education
- PhD 1962, University of Durham
- BS 1952, Chemistry, Patna University
Research Summary
Before closing his lab, Uttam RahBhandary studied RNA-protein interactions, which play a crucial role in gene expression, gene regulation and development. The many proteins with which tRNAs interact during protein synthesis make them excellent systems for investigating specific RNA-protein interactions. He examined tRNA structure, function and biosynthesis using biochemistry, genetics and in vivo functional analyses. Uttam RajBhandary is no longer accepting students.
Awards
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 1991
Education
- Postdoctoral training with Michael Sela, Herman Eisen, and Rodney Porter
- MD, 1959, Yale School of Medicine
- MA, 1956, Mathematics, Radcliffe College
- BA, 1954, Mathematics, Swarthmore College
Research Summary
Lisa Steiner explored the range of structural variation among antibodies in vertebrate species. The variation observed demonstrates that effective antibodies, while sharing certain basic features such as variable and constant regions, can be unexpectedly diverse in structure, varying in number of polypeptide chains or in pattern of disulfide bridging. Moreover, the polypeptide chains in non-mammalian vertebrates do not generally fall into classifications developed for mammalian antibodies, such as kappa, lambda, gamma, etc. Francois Jacob has called such variability “evolutionary tinkering.”
Lisa Steiner is no longer accepting students.
Education
- PhD, 1971, University of California, Berkeley
- BA, 1968, Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania
Research Summary
I study ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs), which catalyze the conversion of nucleotides to deoxynucleotides and play an essential role in DNA replication and repair. I support a range of ongoing projects, including those related to the radical propagation pathway utilized by Class I RNRs, the interactions between protein subunits of Class I RNR, the regulation of RNRs, and the mechanisms behind clinical drugs. I also examine the biosynthesis, activation, and regulation of formation of the essential metallo-cofactors of RNRs in E. coli, S. cerevisiae, and humans. JoAnne Stubbe is no longer accepting students.
Awards
- Priestley Medalist, American Chemical Society, 2020
- American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 2014
- National Science Foundation, National Medal of Science, 2008
- National Academy of Sciences, Member, 1992
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 1991
- Welch Award in Chemistry 2010
- NAS Chemical Sciences Award 2010
- Pearl Meister Greengard Award 2017
Education
- PhD, 1966, MIT
Research Summary
Paul Schimmel’s research interests have focused on aminoacyl tRNA synthetases — an ancient and universal set of essential enzymes. His laboratory has worked on a universal mechanism for correcting errors in the interpretation of genetic information, and went on to show how this mechanism is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and preventing serious pathologies and disease. His laboratory also discovered what others refer to as a ‘tRNA synthetase-directed primordial’ or ‘second’ genetic code, which was eventually incorporated into the modern code. In a separate line of research published back in 1983, Schimmel developed the concept of what are now known as ESTs (expressed sequence tags), and the strategy of shotgun sequencing — approaches that were adopted into the human genome project several years later. Lastly, his laboratory connected synthetases to disease and, most recently, they reported the structural and functional metamorphosis of these proteins, whereby they are repurposed with novel activities, both inside and outside the cell, in a variety of cell signaling pathways. The Schimmel lab is no longer accepting students.
Awards
- Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- Member of the American Philosophical Society
- Member of the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine)
- Member of the National Academy of Inventors
- Former President of the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society
- Editorial board member on numerous scientific journals