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Lynne Maquat Receives Canada’s Top Prize for Biomedical Research

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Lynne Maquat recieves award

On October 29, Dr. Lynne E. Maquat received a 2015 Canada Gairdner International Award, for her work discovering and elucidating the mechanism of mRNA decay pathways. Dr. Maquat was accompanied during presentation of the award by University of Rochester President Joel Seligman, Dean Mark Taubman, and the US Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Heyman (see photo). The sold out annual black tie gala took place at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada and was attended by members of the health care, academic, private and public sectors. Among the attendees were Nobel Laureate Dr. Phillip Sharp, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, and the Swiss and Japanese Ambassadors to Canada, who accompanied recipients of the Canada Gairdner International Award from those countries.

Leading up to this event, Dr. Maquat visited four local universities where she spoke to high school students about her personal story of how she became interested in research and what she hopes to achieve through her work. She also met with post-docs and graduate students at each university as well as speaking to faculty members about their research. Following the gala, Dr. Maquat attended and spoke at a 2015 Gairdner Symposium RNA and The New Genetics at the University of Toronto, which she helped coordinate. Her last event occurred at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton where she once again spoke to high school students On being a Scientist: Uncovering the mysteries of life and met with post-docs and graduate students about their research. Dr. Maquat took every opportunity to be part of the National Program, where the goal of these programs is to contribute to Canadian science culture and innovation, and to be part of the Student Outreach Programs where she helped realize one of the Gairdner Foundation's missions to inspire young people to consider a career in science, and to increase their awareness of the value of scientific research.

A local reception was also held to honor Dr. Maquat; pictures available here.

Lynne Maquat to Present Annual Hoffman Lecture

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Lynne Maquat, the J. Lowell Orbison Distinguished Service Alumni Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, will present the 17th annual Marvin J. Hoffman Lecture, "RNA and the New Genetics: From Bench to Therapeutics." The lecture begins at noon Friday, April 17, in the Class of '62 Auditorium (G-9425), Medical Center. RSVP to 273-5937 or apullen@admin.rochester.edu.

Blocking Cellular Quality Control Mechanism Gives Cancer Chemotherapy a Boost

Friday, March 27, 2015

A University of Rochester team found a way to make chemotherapy more effective, by stopping a cellular quality-control mechanism, according to a study published today in Nature Communications.

The mechanism is known as NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay), and scientists found that exposing breast cancer cells to a molecule that inhibits NMD prior to treatment with doxorubicin, a drug used to treat leukemia, breast, bone, lung and other cancers, hastens cell death.

The research team, led by Lynne E. Maquat, Ph.D., director of the Center for RNA Biology at the University of Rochester, acknowledges that the work is in the early stages and a long way from being applied in humans. But, they believe their data provide insights that could lead to new treatment strategies for cancer patients in the future.

Read More: Blocking Cellular Quality Control Mechanism Gives Cancer Chemotherapy a Boost

Lynne Maquat Receives 2015 Gairdner International Award

Thursday, March 26, 2015