Judith Pollock Klinman | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1941-04-17)April 17, 1941 (age 84) |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania A.B. (1962), Ph.D. (1966) |
| Awards | National Medal of Science(2012) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of California at Berkeley |
| Thesis | A Kinetic Study of the Hydrolysis and Imidazole-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Substituted Benzoyl Imidazole in Light and Heavy Water (1966) |
| Doctoral advisor | Edward R. Thornton |
| Doctoral students | Natalie Ahn |
| Website | www |
Judith P. Klinman (born April 17, 1941, inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania)[1] is an American chemist, biochemist, and molecular biologist known for her work onenzyme catalysis. She became the first female professor in the physical sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1978,[2][3] where she is now Professor of the Graduate School and Chancellor's Professor.[4] In 2012, she was awarded theNational Medal of Science by PresidentBarack Obama.[5] She is a member of theNational Academy of Sciences,[6]American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[7]American Association for the Advancement of Science,[8] and theAmerican Philosophical Society.[9]
Klinman was born April 17, 1941, inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] When Klinman was two years old, her biological father left the family.[2] Klinman's mother sold her house and possessions and moved with Klinman toMiami Beach, Florida, for a time, before returning to Philadelphia to find work.[10] Klinman's mother then remarried, and so she was raised by her mother and stepfather.[2] Neither her mother nor stepfather graduated from college, but her stepfather attendedDrexel University for two years but dropped out due to theGreat Depression, and later found work selling furniture.[2] Klinman was initially interested in ballet, but her interest in chemistry was piqued by her high school chemistry teacher.[2] She received a partial scholarship from her high school,Overbrook High School, to attend college, graduating second in her class.[2] Klinman decided to enroll in theUniversity of Pennsylvania's College for Women, despite pressure from her family to become a lab technician and get married.[2]
Beginning in 1958, Klinman studied chemistry at theUniversity of Pennsylvania (UPenn).[10] While in college, Klinman was a laboratory technician at the Eldridge R. Johnson Foundation for Research in Medical Physics at UPenn. She graduated with her A.B. in Chemistry in 1962.[1] Klinman applied to medical and graduate school, and received acceptances to both.[2] In 1962, Klinman enrolled in the Chemistry graduate program atNew York University (NYU).[2] Klinman credits her time at NYU for "opening [her] eyes to the excitement and beauty of organic reaction mechanisms."[10] After a year in New York City, she moved back to Philadelphia, and enrolled at UPenn for graduate studies.[2] Working in the laboratory of physical organic chemist Prof.Edward R. Thornton, Klinman studied the hydrolysis kinetics of benzyl-substitutedimidiazoles.[11] She graduated with her Ph.D. in 1966.[12]
In 1966, Klinman travelled to theWeizmann Institute inIsrael to conduct postdoctoral research with Prof. David Samuel.[2] She worked in the Isotopes Department, which had a large supply ofheavy water that could be used forkinetic studies. Klinman's work with Samuel involved understanding the role of divalent metal ions in the hydrolysis of high-energy acyl phosphates.[13] While in Israel, Klinman survived theSix-Day War of 1967.[2][10] She and her then husband,Norman R. Klinman, left Israel in 1967, as her husband was conducting postdoctoral studies at theNational Institute for Medical Research inMill Hill, London.[10][14] Klinman arranged a nonpaying apprenticeship atUniversity College London (UCL) in the laboratory ofCharles A. Vernon, and also took courses in biochemistry at UCL.
Klinman and her husband returned to the United States in 1968, and Klinman took up a position as a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), a part of theFox Chase Cancer Research Institute.[10][15] There, she joined the laboratory ofIrwin Rose, where she investigated the mechanism ofaconitate isomerase, an enzyme that catalyzes thecis-trans isomerism ofaconitate.[16][17] Klinman also studied the stereochemical products ofATP citrate lyase andcitrate synthase.[18]
In 1972, Klinman was promoted to an independent staff scientist, equivalent to an Assistant Professorship, at the Institute for Cancer Research.[10] In 1974, she joined the University of Pennsylvania as an Assistant Professor ofBiophysics.[19]
In 1978, she moved toUniversity of California, Berkeley as an Associate Professor in Chemistry,[15] the first female faculty member in the physical sciences at UC Berkeley.[20] She is currently the Professor of the Graduate School at the Departments of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at the University of California, Berkeley.[12] She also served the Chancellor's Professor for University of California Berkeley.[21][22] She currently serves as the Professor of the Graduate School.[23]
Her group has discovered that room temperaturehydrogen tunneling occurs among various enzymatic reactions, such as enzymatic C-H cleavage,[10] and clarified the dynamics of tunneling process through data analysis. They have also discovered the quino-enzymes, a new class ofredoxcofactors in eukaryotic enzymes.[24][25]
Judith Klinman was married to Norman R. Klinman, who later became a Professor of Immunology and Microbial Science atThe Scripps Research Institute.[14] The two met at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, and were married while Klinman was completing her Ph.D.[2][10] They had two children together, Andrew and Douglas.[2][10] Andrew was born while Klinman was in graduate school (born 1964–1966), and Douglas when she was a postdoctoral scholar at theWeizmann Institute of Science in Israel (born in 1967).[2][10] She and Norman divorced in 1978, at the time of her laboratory's move to UC Berkeley.[2][10]
Judith Klinman later married Mordechai Mitnick, a grassroots organizer who later established apsychotherapy practice inOakland.[10][42][43][44] They raised four children together: Alexandra, Joshua, Andrew, and Douglas.[10]
Klinman has a stepsister, who as of 2002 worked for theSmall Business Administration.[2]
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