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Joan Steitz, Ph.D., has been studying the structure and function of crucial cell particles with a funny name: snurps. Small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (“snurps”), which she and then-M.D./Ph.D. student Michael Lerner discovered in 1979, play a key role in some of the most basic biological processes that convert information in DNA to the active protein molecules of the living cell. Steitz’s research has implications for improved diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases, particularly rheumatic diseases that occur when a person’s own antibodies attack snurps. Steitz, who studied with both James Watson and Francis Crick, is internationally renowned for her contributions to the field of gene expression. She has been a member of the Yale faculty since 1970 and was named Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry–Sterling professorships are Yale’s highest academic honor–in 1999. A Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Steitz leads the molecular genetics program in the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine. Her achievements have earned her many honors, including the National Medal of Science and the Christopher Columbus Discovery Award in Biomedical Research. She was the first woman to win the Warren Triennial Prize, which is often described as the “Nobel Prize predictor” because so many of its recipients have gone on to win the latter award, and was also the first woman to be presented the Weizmann Women and Science Award. |
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 Joan Steitz, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. |
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Last modified: Wednesday, 11-Aug-2004 15:00:34 EDT. (PL) |