Thomas Cech

Thomas Cech
Born	(1947-12-08)December 8, 1947 Chicago,Illinois, US
Alma mater	Grinnell College(B.A., 1970) University of California, Berkeley(Ph.D., 1975) Massachusetts Institute of Technology(Postdoctoral)
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(born December 8, 1947) is an American chemist who shared the 1989Nobel Prize in ChemistrywithSidney Altman,for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA.He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but also that it can speed up the necessary reactions.

He 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.

As president ofHoward Hughes Medical Institute,he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at theUniversity of Colorado.

Early life and career

Cech was born to parents ofCzechorigin (his grandfather was Czech, his other grandparents were first-generation Americans) in Chicago. He grew up inIowa City, Iowa.In junior high school, he knocked on the doors of geology professors at the University of Iowa, and asked them to discuss crystal structures, meteorites and fossils.

ANational Merit Scholar,Cech enteredGrinnell Collegein 1966. There he studied Homer'sOdyssey,Dante'sInferno,constitutional history and chemistry. He married his organic chemistry lab partner, Carol Lynn Martinson, and graduated with a B.A. in 1970.

In 1975, Cech completed his PhD in chemistry at theUniversity of California, Berkeleyand in the same year, he entered theMassachusetts Institute of Technologywhere he engaged in postdoctoral research.In 1978, he obtained his first faculty position at theUniversity of Coloradowhere 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 Choppinas president of theHoward Hughes Medical InstituteinMaryland.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.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 of a bookThe Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets,published in June 2024.

Research

Cech's main research area is that of the process oftranscriptionin the nucleus of cells. He studies how thegenetic codeofDNAis transcribed intoRNA.In the 1970s, Cech had been studying thesplicingof RNA in the unicellular organismTetrahymena thermophilawhen 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 havecatalyticfunctions and can participate in cellular reactions.RNA-processing reactions and protein synthesis onribosomesin particular are catalysed by RNA. RNAenzymesare known asribozymesand 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.The active site protein subunits of telomerase comprise a new class ofreverse transcriptases,enzymes previously thought to be restricted to viruses andtransposable elements.Telomeraseis activated in 90% of human cancers. Therefore, a drug that would inhibit its activity could be useful in treatingcancer.

Awards

Cech's work has been recognised by many awards and prizes including: lifetime professorship by theAmerican Cancer Society(1987), theLouisa Gross Horwitz PrizefromColumbia University(1988), theHeineken Prizeof 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 Achievementin 1990and theNational Medal of Science(1995).In 1987, Cech was elected to theUnited States National Academy of Sciencesand in 1988 he was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.Cech was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Societyin 2001.In 2003, Cech gave the University of Colorado'sGeorge Gamow Memorial Lecture.In 2007, he received theOthmer Gold Medalfor outstanding contributions to progress in chemistry and science.

See also

• History of RNA biology
• List of RNA biologists

External links

• Thomas Cech in Hyde Park Civilization on ČT24 26.12.2022 (moderator Daniel Stach)
• Tom Cech's Short Talk: "Discovering Ribozymes"
• Chemical and Engineering News
• Thomas Cechon Nobelprize.org
• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989:Illustrated Presentation
• HHMI profile
• HHMI bio
• HHMI Investigators bio
• The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize