Honorary degree recipients advanced knowledge of RNA function

by LESLIE CHURCH 

Two pioneers in the field of molecular biology were recipients of the honorary doctor of science degree at the June 14 Convocation ceremony: Rockefeller’s own James E. Darnell Jr., Vincent Astor Professor Emeritus and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, and Yale University’s Joan A. Steitz, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The two scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries on RNA and how it is processed, contributing to our understanding of illnesses ranging from cancer to autoimmune diseases. In addition to their scientific influence, both Dr. Darnell and Dr. Steitz are renowned mentors and role models for younger scientists.

Dr. Darnell, who has been described as the “father” of RNA processing and cytokine signaling, received his M.D. in 1955 from the Washington University School of Medicine. After research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Pasteur Institute in Paris, among other appointments, he joined Rockefeller as Vincent Astor Professor in 1974.

During his nearly six decade career, he made numerous discoveries in the cells of higher organisms that established the central role of RNA. In his later work, Dr. Darnell and his colleagues mapped the first complete “signal transduction” pathway: the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. He has received numerous awards, including the 2012 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the 2003 National Medal of Science and the 2002 Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science.

From 1990 to 1991 Dr. Darnell served as vice president for academic affairs at Rockefeller and was instrumental in the 1980s and 1990s in establishing a new focus in hiring young independent faculty, a now accepted mechanism in university practice.

“Nothing matches the joy, indeed the exhilaration and the deep satisfaction, of being recognized by the home team,” Dr. Darnell said in accepting the degree. He went on to call graduates to action in educating young people about science. “In this country we especially need to engage children, young students at all ages, far more actively than has been customary in the past. Please, put aside five percent of your time to whatever public school you choose. I can assure you your efforts are desperately needed.”

Dr. Steitz was the sole woman in a class of 10 to begin graduate studies in biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard in 1963, and the first female graduate student to work under Jim Watson’s guidance. In the Watson lab, she became interested in bacteriophages and the question of how a ribosome recognizes the beginning of a gene for translation. After receiving her Ph.D. in 1967, Steitz did postdoctoral work at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, using early methods to determine RNA sequences that instruct ribosomes to initiate protein synthesis on bacterial mRNAs.

In 1970, Dr. Steitz joined the faculty at Yale where her laboratory discovered and defined the function of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), cellular complexes which play a key role in the splicing of pre-messenger RNA. Her many honors include the 2008 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the 2006 Gairdner Foundation International Award and the 1986 National Medal of Science.

When accepting her degree, Dr. Steitz remarked on her experiences in the field of molecular biology and its evolution. “In the course of a single career, momentous changes have occurred both in science itself, and in who conducts the science. Your future in science holds many wonderful surprises and opportunities, along with, obviously, real challenges. It’s important to have goals, to continue to do what you are passionate about, and it’s important to enjoy what you are doing.”