Ruth Lehmann

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ruth Lehmann
Born
Germany
Alma materUniversity of Tübingen
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
New York University School of Medicine
Doctoral advisorChristiane Nüsslein-Volhard
Websitelehmannlab.med.nyu.edu

Ruth Lehmann is a

embryogenesis
.

Early life

Lehmann initially became interested in science during her early years at home.[2] Her mother served as a teacher and loved both the arts and literature, while her father worked as an engineer. She developed a particular interest in biology, which was in part fueled by a high school biology teacher who encouraged her to pursue the subject at a university.

Education

Lehmann attended the

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
in Cambridge, England.

Academic career

Following her post-doctoral position at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Lehmann returned to the United States to found her own laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4] She remained at MIT for 8 years, serving as a faculty member at both MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, in addition to working as a geneticist and molecular biologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.[3] In 1994, Lehmann was one of 16 women faculty in the School of Science at MIT who drafted and co-signed a letter to the then-Dean of Science (now Chancellor of Berkeley) Robert Birgeneau, which started a campaign to highlight and challenge gender discrimination at MIT.[6]

Lehmann then moved to the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at New York University in 1996 as the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Cell Biology. She has since become the director of the Skirball Institute and the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology, and has recently been named chair of the Cell Biology Department.[7]

Lehmann has served as president of the Society of Developmental Biology, president of the

National Institute of Child Health and serves as editor for a number of scientific journals including Cell, Developmental Biology and the Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology.[8]

As of September 2019, Dr. Lehmann was announced as the new Director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, succeeding David Page.

Awards, honors, and tributes

Lehman has been a member of the

honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.[11] In 2021, she was awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal and in 2022 she was awarded the Gruber Prize in Genetics.[12] In 2021, Lehman was named by Carnegie Corporation of New York as an honoree of the Great Immigrants Award.[13][14]

Research

Lehmann published her first paper in 1981 under her Fulbright Fellowship mentor Campos-Ortega, detailing her study of early

nanos, comparing the effects of maternal versus zygotic genes in germ cell formation, abdominal patterning, and cell signaling.[16][17] Using molecular cloning techniques, she discovered that oskar and nanos RNA transcripts regulate gene expression and germ cell formation by localizing at the posterior embryonic pole.[18][19] Her later work continues to build on this discovery by analyzing modification mechanisms of RNA transcript production and how they affect germ cell differentiation and localization in Drosophila. Among other mechanisms, her laboratory discovered that a polyadenylated tail is not required for gene regulation.[18]

Lehmann continued to focus her research efforts on germ cell differentiation well into the early 2000s. She played a substantial role in the discovery of germ cell migratory pathways (namely those involving

isoprenoids), particularly those concerning migration into the ovaries and testis.[20][21][22] In 2005, Lehmann's laboratory published a paper relating the lipid phosphatases Wunen and Wunen 2 to germ cell migration and elimination, suggesting that germ cells are sorted into the gonads by a type of repellent mechanism.[23]
Her findings up to this point indicated that germ cells avoid differentiation into somatic cells through a combination of her previously studied regulatory mechanisms, each of which has the potential to silence transcription and control translation.

Currently, Lehmann is studying piRNA production and the role it plays in preventing transposable element insertion and movement across the Drosophila genome.[24] She discovered that biogenesis of piRNAs and activation of the piRNA pathway is directly dependent on a number of proteins and epigenetic interactions. These results indicate that piRNAs play a paramount role in maintaining genomic integrity while allowing for genetic variation to occur.

References

  1. ^ "Lehmann Lab". Lehmann Lab. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. ^
    PMID 21893593
    .
  3. ^ a b c "Ruth Lehmann named as Department Chair | Department of Cell Biology". med.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  4. ^ a b c "Ruth Lehmann, PhD | HHMI.org". HHMI.org. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  5. ^ a b "Ruth Lehmann". www.sdbonline.org. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  6. ISBN 978-1-9821-3183-8
    .
  7. ^ "Ruth Lehmann". www.sdbonline.org. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  8. PMID 30296393
    .
  9. ^ "Ruth Lehmann". Vilcek Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  10. ^ "2021 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science Recognize Immigrant Leaders in STEM". Vilcek Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  11. ^ "Dies Academicus 2021: University of Basel presents seven female honorary doctors". www.unibas.ch. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  12. ^ Gruber Prize in Genetics 2022
  13. ^ "Ruth Lehmann". Carnegie Corporation of New York. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  14. ^ McElvery, Raleigh (2021-07-01). "Ruth Lehmann named Great Immigrant by Carnegie Corporation". MIT Department of Biology. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  15. S2CID 21814447
    .
  16. S2CID 4355300
    .
  17. ISSN 0950-1991
    .
  18. ^
    PMID 11562474
    .
  19. S2CID 4369219
    .
  20. PMID 14691551
    .
  21. PMID 14660550
    .
  22. PMID 14960281
    .
  23. PMID 16301333
    .
  24. PMID 21820311
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruth_Lehmann&oldid=1230088677"