Five Women Honored for Their Work in Molecular Biology

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has announced the winners of 12 awards. The winning scientists will receive their awards, which include a $5,000 cash prize, at the society’s annual meeting next April in San Diego.

Among this year’s 12 winners are five women scientists.

Susan M. Marqusee, professor of molecular and cellular biology and director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at the University of California at Berkeley, will receive the William C. Rose Award. Professor Marqusee is being honored for her research on protein folding and for her efforts to mentor younger scientists.

Dr. Marqusee is a graduate of Cornell University. She received her medical training and a Ph.D. at Stanford University and conducted postdoctoral research at MIT. She joined the faculty at Berkeley in 1992.

Peggy Farnham, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, will receive the Herbert A. Sober Leadership Award. The award recognizes outstanding research in molecular biology with particular emphasis on the development of research methods and techniques.

Professor Farnham is a graduate of Rice University in Houston. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University.

Kim Orth is an associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She will receive the society’s Young Investigator Award for her work on bacterial pathogens.

Dr. Orth is a graduate of Texas A&M University. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Christine Guthrie, professor of biophysics and biochemistry at the University of California at San Francisco, will be honored with the ASBMB Merck Award for her research which pioneered the use of budding yeast as a model organism to elucidate the mechanism of messenger RNA splicing.

Judy Voet, professor emerita at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania is sharing the Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education with her husband, Donald Voet, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The Voets are being honored for their authorship of biochemistry textbooks and for editing the journal Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.

Judy Voet is a graduate of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Brandeis University.