Shedding Some Light on the Dark Matter of the Genomic Universe

Speaker

Thomas R. Cech
University of Colorado, Boulder

Tom Cech is an American Cancer Society Professor and HHMI Investigator at the University of Colorado where he also serves as Director of the BioFrontiers Institute. From 2000 - 2009 he served as President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research concerns RNA-mediated processes. Among his seminal contributions to the understanding of RNA biology and chemistry is the discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech’s work has been recognized by several awards including election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Lasker Prize for Basic Medical Research, the National Medal of Science, and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared with Sidney Altman.