Biocatalysis

BIOGRAPHY

JoAnne Stubbe (b. 1946) B. A. in Chemistry 1968, University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D in Organic Chemistry with George Kenyon, 1971, University of California Berkeley; Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Williams College 1971-75; Postdoctoral Fellow with Robert Abeles, Brandeis University 1975-7; Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine, 1977-1980; Associate to Full Professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1980-87; Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Chemistry at MIT from 1987-92; Professor of Biology,1990 to present; John C. Sheehan Professor of Chemistry,1992-1996; Novartis Professor of Chemistry,1996-present.

Awards: Faculty prize in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania; NIH predoctoral fellow, 9/69-9/71; NIH postdoctoral fellow, 6/75-6/77; NIH Career Development Award, 12/83-11/88; H. I. Romnes Fellow, University of Wisconsin Madison, 3/85-3/87; Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, 1986; ICI-Stuart Pharmaceutical Award for Excellence in Chemistry, 1989; MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, 1990; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991; National Academy of Sciences, 1992; Cope Scholar Award, 1993; Richards Medal (Northeast Section of the ACS), 1996; Cotton Medal, 1997; Alfred Bader Award in Bioorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry, 1997; Repligen Award from the Biological Chemistry Div of the ACS, 2004; American Philosophical Society, 2004; John C. Scott Award, City of Philadelphia, 2005; National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences, 2008; Emil Kaiser Award from the Protein Society, 2008; Kirkwood Medal, Yale University and New Haven ACS, 2008; Nakanishi Award from the ACS, 2009; National Medal of Science, 2008 (awarded in 2009); Prelog Medal, ETH Zurich, 2009; Franklin Institute Award in Chemistry, Philadelphia, 2010; Murray Goodman Memorial Prize, Biophysical Society/ACS, 2010; Welch Award in Chemistry with Christopher Walsh HMS, 2010.

Brief Summary of Research: Perhaps her most noted work is in unraveling the free radical chemistry that catalyzes the transformation of RNA building blocks to DNA building blocks to make and repair DNA. Her explanation of this critical process has led to the design on mechanism-based inhibitors to treat certain cancers. Dr. Stubbe’s research also has explored in detail three other major areas: how bleomycin, a natural product antitumor antibiotic, works; how metals in cells help regulate catalysis; and how bacteria make polyesters, essentially biodegradable plastics.