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Thomas Cech | |
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| Born | December 8, 1947 Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Alma mater | Grinnell College (B.A., 1970) University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., 1975) |
| Known for | Ribozyme, Telomerase |
| Awards | Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (1985) Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1986) NAS Award in Molecular Biology (1987) Rosenstiel Award (1988) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1989) National Medal of Science (1995) Othmer Gold Medal (2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Colorado, Howard Hughes Medical Institute |
| Thesis | Characterization of the most rapidly renaturing sequences in the main band DNA of the mouse (Mus musculus) (1975) |
| Doctoral advisor | John E. Hearst |
Thomas Robert Cech (born December 8, 1947) is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA.[1] He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but that it can act as a speed up the necessary reactions.[2]
He also studied telomeres, and his lab discovered an enzyme, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), which is part of the process of restoring telomeres after they are shortened during cell division.[3]
As president of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at the University of Colorado.
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989: Illustrated Presentation
- ^ Thomas Cech – Hyde Park Civilizace | Česká televize (in Czech), retrieved July 13, 2023
- ^ Telomeres, Telomerase, and Other Noncoding RNAs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, July 13, 2010