|
April 7, 2003
Awards and Honors
Noller recognized for
biomedical research contributions
 |
Harry Noller
UCSC Photo Services |
Harry Noller, the Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology and director
of the Center for Molecular Biology of RNA, has been honored by the Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as the 2003 recipient of the Katharine Berkan
Judd Award Lectureship.
The award is given annually in recognition of outstanding contributions
in biomedical research. Noller is being recognized for his groundbreaking
studies of ribosomes, tiny structures that carry out protein synthesis
in all living cells. The ribosome is a complex molecular machine made
up of both protein and RNA, and Noller's lab has elucidated its structure
and shown that the RNA component carries out the key function of peptide
bond formation.
"Your work has profound ramifications in understanding the early
evolution of biological systems and the mechanisms of therapeutic drugs
that target protein synthesis," wrote Harold Varmus, M.D., president
of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in a letter to Noller announcing
the award.
Noller will give the award lecture in the fall as part of the President's
Research Seminar Series at the cancer center, which is in New York.
Biologist John Pearse
honored by marine sanctuary
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has awarded the Sanctuary
Recognition Award for Education to John Pearse, professor emeritus of
ecology and evolutionary biology. This is the second Sanctuary Recognition
Award for Pearse, who was honored in the science category in 1994.
The awards, sponsored by the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments
(AMBAG), were presented at the annual Sanctuary Currents Symposium on
March 15. The Education Award is given to an educator who has advanced
the educational goals of the sanctuary and its programs.
Pearse has led the development of a program that gets junior high and
high school students involved in monitoring the rocky intertidal habitat
in the sanctuary. The Seymour Intertidal
Monitoring Program (SIMP) was developed in collaboration with the
staff at UCSC's Seymour Marine Discovery Center, with support from the
California Sea Grant College Program. (See earlier Currents
story )
The goals of SIMP are to inform the public about the rocky intertidal
habitat and the species that live there; directly involve students (grades
7 to 12) and volunteers in the collection of long-term data; and collect
and archive data that can be analyzed to detect changes in intertidal
life over time.
Pearse has received numerous teaching awards during his career, including
the 1997 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Academic Senate Committee
on Teaching.
back to top
Return to Front Page
|