 | Ronald R. Breaker |
Ronald R. Breaker, the newly named Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, is renowned for his research exploring the structure and function of nucleic acids and for his invention of RNA molecular "switches" that can be used as elements in biosensors.
His laboratory is specifically devoted to studying ribozyme reaction mechanism, molecular switch technology, next-generation biosensors and catalytic DNA engineering. Four years ago, Breaker and other researchers in his lab earned international attention for their pioneering development of an RNA biochip with the potential to revolutionize medicine and industry.
Breaker is one of many scientists who theorize that the first life forms on Earth were composed of RNA, the active component in genes, and not DNA, the genetic library. His research team has explored this conjecture by "re-creating" evolution in a test tube, essentially creating enzymes that have been extinct for nearly four billion years.
Breaker aims to develop practical applications for his RNA research, and is working particularly toward the development of a high-tech biosensor, a device that could be used to detect everything from infectious agents to toxins to natural compounds to dangerous chemical agents, such as anthrax. Breaker, who has been granted patents for some of his discoveries, is a co-founder of the biotechnology company Archemix, which is pursuing the molecular switch technology for therapeutics and next-generation biosensor applications.
He joined the Yale faculty in 1995 after a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute, where he pioneered a variety of in vitro evolution strategies to isolate novel RNA enzymes and was the first to discover catalytic DNAs or "deoxyribozymes" using this technology. He holds a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a Ph.D. from Purdue University.
At Yale, Breaker became a full professor in 2004. He has served on a number of departmental and campus-wide committees, including the Undergraduate Curriculum Review.
Breaker was recently named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. His other honors include a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship, an Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award and a Scripps Research Institute SOF Travel Award. At Yale he has been awarded a Hellman Family Fellowship, a Junior Faculty Fellowship and the 1997 Arthur Greer Memorial Prize.
T H I S
Ronald R. Breaker appointed
to Henry Ford II Professorship
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