Thomas Steitz

Short Bio:

Thomas Steitz was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his research into the atomic structure and function of cellular particles called ribosomes. Among Steitz’s major accomplishments was the determination of the structure of the large ribosomal subunit (50S) of the archaean Haloarcula marismortui (a primitive single-celled organism) to a resolution of 9 angstroms (Å; 1 Å is equivalent to 10−10 metre, or 0.1 nanometre). In addition, he created a map of the 50S ribosomal subunit of H. marismortui at a resolution of 5 Å, revealing the locations of protein and RNA components within the subunit, and later provided a complete structure of the 50S subunit at a resolution of just 2.4 Å. Steitz also used X-ray crystallography to investigate the atomic characteristics of the processes of gene expression, DNA replication, genetic recombination, transcription, and translation. Steitz became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 1986 and was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1990. He received the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science in 2001, the Keio Medical Science Prize in 2006, and the Gairdner International Award in 2007.