Joan A. Steitz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joan Steitz
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Joan Elaine Argetsinger
January 26, 1941 Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
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| Education | Antioch College (BS) Harvard University (PhD) |
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| Spouse(s) | Thomas Steitz |
| Children | 1 |
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| Thesis | Studies of the R17A protein (1968) |
| Doctoral advisor | James D. Watson |
| Doctoral students | Sandra Wolin, Gia Voeltz |
Joan Elaine Argetsinger Steitz (born January 26, 1941) is a famous American scientist. She is a Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. She also works as an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Steitz is well-known for her amazing discoveries about RNA. RNA is a vital molecule in our bodies.
Her work has helped us understand how ribosomes, which are like tiny protein factories, read instructions from messenger RNA (mRNA). She also found out that special tiny particles called small nuclear ribonucleic proteins (snRNPs) help to edit genetic messages. These snRNPs are found in eukaryotes, which include humans, animals, and plants. In 2018, Dr. Steitz received the prestigious Lasker-Koshland Award. This award is often called the 'American Nobel Prize' because many winners later receive a Nobel Prize.
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Early Life and Education
Joan Steitz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She grew up there in the 1950s and 60s. For high school, she attended the Northrop Collegiate School, which was an all-girls school at the time.
In 1963, Joan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Antioch College in Ohio. It was there that she first became interested in molecular biology. She got this interest while working as an intern at Alex Rich's lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After college, Joan thought about going to medical school. She knew of women doctors but not many women scientists. However, she loved working in a lab during a summer internship with Joseph G. Gall at the University of Minnesota. This experience made her change her mind. Instead of medical school, she applied to Harvard's new program in biochemistry and molecular biology. There, she made history as the first woman graduate student to join the lab of Nobel Prize winner James Watson. She started her research by studying bacteriophage RNA.
Amazing Discoveries in Science
After finishing her PhD, Dr. Steitz did more research at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the University of Cambridge, UK. She worked with other famous scientists like Francis Crick. At Cambridge, she focused on how bacteria know where to start reading the instructions on mRNA. She found the exact sequences on a virus's mRNA where it connects to bacterial ribosomes to make proteins. In 1969, she published an important paper in the journal Nature about her findings.
In 1970, Dr. Steitz joined the faculty at Yale University. In 1975, she made a discovery that she is very famous for. She showed that ribosomes use a special matching system, called complementary base pairing, to find the right starting point on mRNA.
The Discovery of snRNPs
In 1980, Dr. Steitz and her colleague Michael Lerner published another very important paper. They used special human antibodies from patients with autoimmune diseases to find and identify snRNPs (pronounced "snurps"). They also figured out the role these snRNPs play in splicing.
What are snRNPs? They are short pieces of RNA, about 150 nucleotides long, that are linked with proteins. They are part of larger structures called spliceosomes. These spliceosomes are like tiny editors that cut out unneeded parts (called introns) from newly made RNA (pre-mRNA). Dr. Steitz's discovery completely changed the field of RNA biology. It led to the discovery of many other small RNAs that are important in how RNA is made.
Introns are Not "Junk DNA"
Later, Dr. Steitz found another type of snRNP particle called snoRNP. These snoRNPs are involved in some important mRNA splicing reactions. By studying where the genes for snoRNPs were located, she proved that introns are not "junk DNA" as some scientists used to think.
Her work also helps explain something called "alternative RNA splicing." This process allows our bodies to get many different protein products from a single gene. Dr. Steitz explained it by saying that the "nonsense bits" (introns) can be spliced out in different ways. This means each gene can create slightly different proteins that do slightly different things. This greatly increases the amount of information in our genes.
Dr. Steitz's research could also lead to new ways to diagnose and treat autoimmune disorders. These are diseases like lupus, where a person's immune system mistakenly attacks their own body. In these diseases, patients often make antibodies against their own DNA, snRNPs, or ribosomes.
Dr. Steitz has also spoken out about how women scientists have been treated unfairly. She has worked very hard to support and encourage women in science. Christine Guthrie, another scientist, called Dr. Steitz "one of the greatest scientists of our generation."
Personal Life
Joan Argetsinger married Thomas Steitz in 1966. He was also a Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale. Thomas Steitz won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. They have one son named Jon.
Awards and Honors
Dr. Steitz has received many important awards and honors for her groundbreaking work:
- 2021 – Wolf Prize in Medicine
- 2020 – Microbiology Society Prize Medal
- 2018 – Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science
- 2014 – Royal Society of London
- 2009 – Biochemical Society Jubilee Lecture Award
- 2011 – Columbia University Honorary Doctorate of Science
- 2008 – Albany Medical Center Prize (shared with Elizabeth Blackburn)
- 2006 – Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Science, National Cancer Institute
- 2006 – Gairdner Foundation International Award
- 2005 – E.B. Wilson Medal, American Society for Cell Biology
- 2004 – RNA Society Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2004 – The Caledonian Research Foundation (CRF) Prize Lectureship in Biomedical Sciences and Arts and Letters, Royal Society of Edinburgh
- 2003 – FASEB Excellence in Science Award
- 2002 – Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Basic Medical Science
- 2001 – L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
- 1992 – Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
- 1992 – Elected to the American Philosophical Society
- 1989 – Warren Triennial Prize
- 1988 – Dickson Prize for Science
- 1986 – National Medal of Science, National Science Foundation
- 1983 – Member, National Academy of Sciences
- 1983 – Lee Howley, Sr. Award for Arthritis Research
- 1982 – NAS Award in Molecular Biology
- 1982 – American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1976 – Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry
- 1975 – Passano Foundation Young Scientist Award
Her nomination for the Royal Society praised her as a pioneer in RNA biology. It noted her many important contributions, including showing how ribosomal RNA helps start protein production. It also highlighted her discovery of spliceosomes and their role in editing pre-messenger RNA. She also found that introns, once thought useless, actually contain instructions for sno RNAs. More recently, she has found new roles for microRNAs in controlling genes.
See also
In Spanish: Joan A. Steitz para niños
