Joan A. Steitz

Joan Steitz
Born
Joan Elaine Argetsinger

(1941-01-26) January 26, 1941 (age 83)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
EducationAntioch College (BS)
Harvard University (PhD)
Known for
  • discovery of sites, sequences, and mechanism for mRNA binding to ribosomes
  • first discovery of RNAs not directly involved in protein assembly
  • discovery of snRNPs and their role in splicing eukaryotic mRNAs out of longer transcripts
SpouseThomas Steitz
Children1
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
ThesisStudies of the R17A protein (1968)
Doctoral advisorJames D. Watson[3]
Doctoral studentsSandra Wolin, Gia Voeltz
Website

Joan Elaine Argetsinger Steitz (born January 26, 1941) is Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is known for her discoveries involving RNA, including ground-breaking insights into how ribosomes interact with messenger RNA by complementary base pairing and that introns are spliced by small nuclear ribonucleic proteins (snRNPs), which occur in eukaryotes.[4][5][6][7][8] In September 2018, Steitz won the Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science. The Lasker award is often referred to as the 'American Nobel' because 87 of the former recipients have gone on to win Nobel prizes.[9]

  1. ^ Joan A. Steitz, Yale University, nasonline.org
  2. ^ "Joan A. Steitz (1941– )". National Medal of Science 50th Anniversary. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  3. ^ Steitz, J (2011). "Joan Steitz: RNA is a many-splendored thing. Interview by Caitlin Sedwick". The Journal of Cell Biology. 192 (5): 708–09. doi:10.1083/jcb.1925pi. PMC 3051824. PMID 21383073.
  4. ^ Lerner, M. R.; Boyle, J. A.; Mount, S. M.; Wolin, S. L.; Steitz, J. A. (1980). "Are snRNPs involved in splicing?". Nature. 283 (5743): 220–24. Bibcode:1980Natur.283..220L. doi:10.1038/283220a0. PMID 7350545. S2CID 4266714.
  5. ^ Vasudevan, S.; Tong, Y.; Steitz, J. A. (2007). "Switching from Repression to Activation: MicroRNAs Can Up-Regulate Translation". Science. 318 (5858): 1931–34. Bibcode:2007Sci...318.1931V. doi:10.1126/science.1149460. PMID 18048652. S2CID 6173875.
  6. ^ Steitz, T. A.; Steitz, J. A. (1993). "A general two-metal-ion mechanism for catalytic RNA". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 90 (14): 6498–502. Bibcode:1993PNAS...90.6498S. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.14.6498. PMC 46959. PMID 8341661.
  7. ^ Joan Steitz (Yale & HHMI): SNURPs and Serendipity on YouTube, iBioMagazine
  8. ^ Friedberg, E. C. (2008). "Joan Steitz interview". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 9 (6): 428. doi:10.1038/nrm2421. S2CID 46399783.
  9. ^ Thomas, Katie (11 September 2018). "Lasker Awards Given for Work in Genetics, Anesthesia and Promoting Women in Science". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-11.