Thomas Cech | |
|---|---|
 Cech in 2005 | |
| Born | (1947-12-08)December 8, 1947 (age 77) Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Education | 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[a] (born 8 December 1947) is an American chemist who shared the 1989Nobel Prize in Chemistry withSidney Altman for their discovery of the catalytic properties ofRNA.
Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting thatlife might have started as RNA.[2] He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but can act as acatalyst to speed up the necessary reactions.[3]
He has also studiedtelomeres, 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.[4]
As president ofHoward Hughes Medical Institute (2000-2008)[5] he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at theUniversity of Colorado.
Cech was born to parents ofCzech origin (his grandfather was Czech, his other grandparents were first-generation Americans) inChicago. He grew up inIowa City, Iowa. In junior high school, he knocked on the doors ofgeology professors at theUniversity of Iowa, and asked them to discusscrystal structures,meteorites andfossils.[6]
ANational Merit Scholar, Cech enteredGrinnell College in 1966. There he studiedHomer'sOdyssey,Dante'sInferno,constitutional history andchemistry. He married hisorganic chemistry lab partner, Carol Lynn Martinson, and graduated with a B.A. in 1970.[6]
In 1975, Cech completed his PhD in chemistry at theUniversity of California, Berkeley and in the same year, he entered theMassachusetts Institute of Technology where he engaged in postdoctoral research.[7] In 1978, he obtained his first faculty position at theUniversity of Colorado where he lectured undergraduate students in chemistry andbiochemistry, and where he remains on the faculty, currently as distinguished professor in the department of biochemistry. In 2000, Cech succeededPurnell Choppin as president of theHoward Hughes Medical Institute inMaryland. He also continued to head his biochemistry laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder. On April 1, 2008, Cech announced that he would step down as the president ofHHMI, to return to teaching and research, in spring 2009.[8] Returning to Boulder, Cech became the first executive director of the BioFrontiers Institute, a position he held until 2020. He also taught general chemistry to freshmen.
Cech is the author ofThe Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets, published in June 2024.[9]
Cech's main research area is that of the process oftranscription in the nucleus of cells. He studies how thegenetic code ofDNA is transcribed intoRNA. In the 1970s, Cech had been studying thesplicing of RNA in the unicellular organismTetrahymena thermophila when he discovered that an unprocessed RNA molecule could splice itself. In 1982, Cech became the first to show that RNA molecules are not restricted to being passive carriers of genetic information – they can havecatalytic functions and can participate in cellular reactions.[10] RNA-processing reactions and protein synthesis onribosomes in particular are catalysed by RNA. RNAenzymes are known asribozymes and have provided a new tool for gene technology. They also have the potential to provide new therapeutic agents – for example, they have the ability to destroy and cleave invading,viral RNAs.
Cech's second area of research is ontelomeres, the structure that protects the ends ofchromosomes. Telomeres are shortened with every duplication of DNA, and must be lengthened again. He studiestelomerase, the enzyme that copies the telomeric sequences and lengthens them.[10] The active site protein subunits of telomerase comprise a new class ofreverse transcriptases, enzymes previously thought to be restricted to viruses andtransposable elements.Telomerase is activated in 90% of human cancers. Therefore, a drug that would inhibit its activity could be useful in treatingcancer.
Cech's work has been recognised by many awards and prizes including: lifetime professorship by theAmerican Cancer Society (1987), theLouisa Gross Horwitz Prize fromColumbia University (1988), theHeineken Prize of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (1988), theAlbert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (1988), theNobel Prize in Chemistry (1989, shared withSidney Altman), the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement in 1990[11] and theNational Medal of Science (1995).[12] In 1987, Cech was elected to theUnited States National Academy of Sciences[10] and in 1988 he was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[13] Cech was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 2001.[14] In 2003, Cech gave the University of Colorado'sGeorge Gamow Memorial Lecture.[15] In 2007, he received theOthmer Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to progress in chemistry and science.[16][17]
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