Lindquist was the director of Whitehead Institute from 2001-2004, and made invaluable contributions to the study of protein folding — demonstrating that alternative protein conformations can have profound and unexpected effects. She is best known for her work on prions: proteins that exhibit an unusual ability to exist in multiple stable structural states, with altered functions depending on the state. Her research transformed budding yeast into a model organism for studying human disease, evolution, and biomaterials.

Photo credit: Ceal Capistrano/Whitehead Institute