Ronald Breaker

American biochemist
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican biochemist
PlacesUnited States of America
isBiologist Molecular biologist Chemist Scientist Biochemist Professor Educator
Work fieldAcademia Biology Science
Gender
Male
Birth1964, Tigerton, USA
Age61 years
Education
Purdue University
Awards
NAS Award in Molecular Biology2006
The details

Biography

Ronald R. Breaker, Ph.D. (born 1964) is the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University. He earned his B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute under the supervision of Gerald Joyce. While at Scripps, he isolated the first DNA enzyme (deoxyribozyme). He then began his independent career at Yale University. Among his major accomplishments is the discovery of riboswitches. His current research is focused on understanding advanced functions of nucleic acids, including the discovery and analysis of riboswitches and ribozymes. He has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator since 2005.

Breaker is a member of the JASON defense advisory group, and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2013.

Awards

  • AAAS Fellow, 2004
  • American Society for Microbiology Eli Lilly Award, 2005
  • NAS Award in Molecular Biology, 2006
  • Rolf Sammet Professorship, Goethe University Frankfurt, 2012
  • Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, 2010
  • U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 2013
  • Distinguished Alumni Award, Purdue University, 2014
  • ASBMB–Merck Award, 2016
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 22 Apr 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.