Marilyn Kozak

Marilyn S. Kozak
Born (1943-07-08) July 8, 1943 (age 81)
Akron, Ohio, US
Alma materJohns Hopkins University
Known forKozak consensus sequence
Scientific career
FieldsMicrobiology
InstitutionsRobert Wood Johnson Medical School
Doctoral advisorDaniel Nathans
Other academic advisorsAaron Shatkin

Marilyn S. Kozak is an American professor of biochemistry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She was previously at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey before the school was merged. She was awarded a PhD in microbiology by Johns Hopkins University studying the synthesis of the Bacteriophage MS2, advised by Daniel Nathans.[1][2]

Kozak sought to study the mechanism of eukaryotic translation initiation, a problem long thought to have already been solved by Joan Steitz.[3] While in the Department of Biological Sciences at University of Pittsburgh, she published a series of studies that established the scanning model of translation initiation and the Kozak consensus sequence.[4][5][6] Her last publication was in 2008.[7]

  1. ^ Kozak, M; Nathans, D (March 1972). "Translation of the genome of a ribonucleic acid bacteriophage". Bacteriological Reviews. 36 (1): 109–34. doi:10.1128/MMBR.36.1.109-134.1972. PMC 378432. PMID 4555183.
  2. ^ Kozak, M; Nathans, D (14 September 1972). "Differential inhibition of coliphage MS2 protein synthesis by ribosome-directed antibiotics". Journal of Molecular Biology. 70 (1): 41–55. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(72)90162-3. PMID 4561347.
  3. ^ Kozak, Marilyn (4 October 1993). "Identifying AUG Initiator Codons" (PDF). Citation Classic Commentaries. 36 (40). Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  4. ^ Grissom, Abigail (15 October 1990). "Research: Top 10 Women Scientists Of The '80s: Making A Difference". The Scientist. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  5. ^ Kozak, M (26 October 1987). "An analysis of 5'-noncoding sequences from 699 vertebrate messenger RNAs". Nucleic Acids Research. 15 (20): 8125–48. doi:10.1093/nar/15.20.8125. PMC 306349. PMID 3313277.
  6. ^ Kozak, M (31 January 1986). "Point mutations define a sequence flanking the AUG initiator codon that modulates translation by eukaryotic ribosomes". Cell. 44 (2): 283–92. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90762-2. PMID 3943125. S2CID 15613863.
  7. ^ Kozak, Marilyn (2008-11-01). "Faulty old ideas about translational regulation paved the way for current confusion about how microRNAs function". Gene. 423 (2): 108–115. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2008.07.013. ISSN 0378-1119. PMID 18692553.