Graduate School News and Events
Professor Thomas Steitz Wins 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Steitz is the Sterling professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, a professor of chemistry, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He won the award for his work describing the structure and function of the ribosome, the protein-making factory that is key to the function of all life.
Steitz is the Sterling professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, a professor of chemistry, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He won the award for his work describing the structure and function of the ribosome, the protein-making factory that is key to the function of all life.
Prof. Tom Steitz surrounded by his students, from the left, Daniel R. Eiler, Orn Itsathitphaisarn, Richard A. Wing, and David Bulkley
Steitz shares the $1.4 million award with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom, and Ada E. Yonath, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. All three used a technology called x-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome. Steitz’s recent work has focused on a subunit of the ribosome, which has proved to be a major target for antibiotics.
The graduate students in his lab were thrilled and offered the following observations.
“It was an unbelievable day for Tom, for us, for our department, and for Yale. We were all obviously ecstatic when we heard the news that Tom had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The incredible impact of the atomic structure of the 50s ribosomal subunit has been obvious to us and to many others for some time now. It is extremely gratifying that this amazing work has finally been recognized at the highest level.”
The students were eager to praise their advisor for his mentorship, as well as his research. “For those of us who work in the lab, Tom is a collegial advisor. Despite the fact that we lack equivalent experience and prestige, he still treats us all as colleagues, each with an equal, individual responsibility to conduct excellent scientific research. He is also a personable mentor, who is easily approachable and extremely sharp. Graduate students in his lab are always encouraged to strive to answer the most interesting and complex questions. Tom often says that, ‘Just because a problem is interesting doesn’t make it difficult.’ His extraordinary knowledge and ability in the field of macromolecular crystallography is matched only by the support system of his lab in the form of post-doctoral fellows and laboratory technicians.”
And summing up, they added, “We are all extremely proud to work with him, excited for our collective futures, and anxiously awaiting the crystal structures yet to come.”
