Professor
      Thomas Robert Cech
University of Colorado Boulder
      Biochemist; Molecular biologist; Educator; Research institution administrator
      Area
                                Biological Sciences
                            Specialty
                                Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology
                            Elected
                                    1988
                    President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Research in RNA and DNA biochemistry, and molecular biology.  He and his research group discovered ribozymes, catalytic RNA molecules, in 1982.  They identified the catalytic protein subunit of telomerase, which replicates chromosome ends, in 1997.  Current research concerns telomerase and x-ray crystallography of RNA.  Public policy interests include science education, university conflict of interest policy, and multidisciplinary research.
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