Terry Orr-Weaver named to National Academy of Sciences
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 26, 2006)ÑWhitehead Member
Terry Orr-Weaver
is one of 72 new members of the National Academy of
Sciences elected in recognition of their distinguished
and continuing achievements in original research. The
Academy also elected 18 foreign associates from 16 countries.
The election was held during the business session of
the 143rd annual meeting of the Academy. Election to
membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest
honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.
Those elected bring the total number of active members
to 2,013.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization
of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance
of science and its use for the general welfare. It was
established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation,
signed by Abraham Lincoln, which calls on the Academy
to act as an official adviser to the federal government,
upon request, in any matter of science or technology.
Orr-Weaver investigates the mechanisms that control
the sequence of events during which a cell duplicates
its DNA and divides in two. Studies in her lab have
illuminated fundamental aspects of this process, the
cell cycle, and shed new light on a broad range of diseases
caused by breakdowns in cell division, including cancer
and some birth defects.
Because fruit flies share many genetic similarities
with humans, Orr-Weaver uses them as a model organism
to identify proteins critical for accurate DNA replication
and partitioning of chromosomes to produce two identical
daughter cells. She and her colleagues have developed
systems for identifying control proteins and determining
their specific roles within the cell.
In addition to being a Member of Whitehead Institute,
Orr-Weaver is also a professor of biology at MIT. She
came to Whitehead Institute and MIT in 1987, and held
the Latham Family Career Development Chair from 1991
to 1994. Orr-Weaver received her PhD in biological chemistry
from Harvard University in 1984, was named a Jane Coffin
Child Memorial Fund Fellow in 1984 and a Searle Scholar
in 1988. She served as a co-graduate officer for the
MIT department of biology from 1998-2004. She currently
is the chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of
the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and is past-president
of the Genetics Society of America.
Orr-Weaver joins Whitehead Members Gerald Fink, Rudolf Jaenisch, Eric Lander, Susan Lindquist, Harvey Lodish, David Page and Robert Weinberg as members of the Academy.
|
