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January 13, 2006|Volume 34, Number 15|Two-Week Issue


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Dieter Söll



Dieter Söll named Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

Dieter Söll, recently designated as Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, is recognized internationally for his research focusing on the fundamental mechanism of protein biosynthesis and of the expansion of the Genetic Code.

Specifically, his research is concerned with uncovering and exploring the unexpected evolutionary and mechanistic divergence underlying the biosynthesis of transfer RNA and of aminoacyl-tRNA, an essential set of molecules ensuring the faithful translation of genetic information. The various discoveries made by his research team in this area shed light on the evolution of the translation system and the Genetic Code. He has also studied E. coli bacteria and plant chloroplasts in an effort to understand key chemical interactions and the role of transfer RNA during the first step of heme and chlorophyll biosynthesis, and has studied in plants the regulation of the expression of proteins that bind a major plant hormone.

While serving during the 1980s as chair of the International Advisory Committee for DNA Sequence Databases and later of the Genome Informatics Task Force, Söll spearheaded international efforts to adopt a common computer database and format, and bioinformatics tools for recording and analyzing masses of genetic information gleaned in the worldwide effort to sequence genomes. Earlier in his career, he and Maxine Singer (a Yale graduate and former University trustee) chaired a conference that drew national attention to the dangers of genetic engineering research, particularly experiments using hybrid molecules. Their concerns, along with those of other scientists, ultimately led to federal guidelines for genetic research.

Söll has edited nine books and written over 430 scientific publications in the fields of biochemistry, functional genomics, molecular biology, microbiology and chemistry.

A native of Stuttgart, Germany, Söll was educated at Technische Hochschule, where he also earned his Ph.D. in chemistry. He was a postdoctoral fellow with H.G. Khorana at the University of Wisconsin's Institute for Enzyme Research from 1962 to 1965. He served as an assistant professor there for two years before joining Yale's Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (MB&B) as an associate professor in 1967. He was named a full professor in 1976 and began a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry in 1995. In 2003 he was appointed the Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. He was chair of MB&B 1982-1984.

In 2002, Söll was chosen as one of two individuals to receive Bouchet Leadership Awards in Minority Graduate Education for his role in recruiting minority students to the University. The award is given in memory of Yale's first African-American student, Edward Bouchet. In the early 1970s, Söll spearheaded a program that brought students from Tougaloo College, a historically black college in Mississippi, to Yale for a summer of research, and he has been a mentor to minority students who have worked in his laboratory and through minority programs with the National Institutes of Health.

For his scientific contributions, Söll was awarded the Senior Distinguished Scientist Award of the Humboldt Foundation in 1988 and was a Humboldt Fellow in 2000. He has twice been named a Guggenheim Fellow, in 1973 and 1989. He has been invited to give named lectures at universities in the United States, England, Germany, Chile and elsewhere, and has been a visiting professor in Japan.

Söll is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, an associate member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served on the advisory boards of numerous scientific journals and publications, and has been a member of many federal advisory panels and committees responsible for the examination of issues related to life science research.


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Campus Notes


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