Paul Schimmel
| Paul Schimmel | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
August 4, 1940 Hartford, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Chemistry |
Paul Reinhard Schimmel (born 1940) is an American biophysical chemist and translational medicine pioneer.
Paul Schimmel was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He is Ernest and Jean Hahn Professor at the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute. He used to be the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Department of Biology at MIT. Schimmel is author or co-author of more than 450 scientific papers and of a widely used three-volume textbook on biophysical chemistry. For his achievements and discoveries in scientific research in the biological sciences, Schimmel has been elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine. Additional honors related to research and educational achievements include the American Chemical Society’s Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the Stein and Moore Award (the highest honor of the Protein Society), the Biophysical Society’s Emily M. Gray Award (co-recipient) for significant contributions to education in biophysics, the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Society’s Brilliant Achievement Award, the Perlman Award (Lecture) of the American Chemical Society, and the Nucleic Acids Award (Lecture) of the Biochemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. He has been active in many scientific and academic organizations and committees, including service as Chairman of the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and as an editorial board member of ten different scientific journals.
For his entire career Schimmel’s research focused on a group of universal enzymes known as aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. The synthetases are believed by many to be among the first enzymes to arise on this planet in the early stages of the evolution of life. These enzymes translate the genetic information in all living organisms. In each cell, there is a separate tRNA synthetase for each of the 20 amino acids. In translating, or interpreting, the genetic material, they catalyze reactions whereby each amino acid is matched with a nucleotide triplet embedded in its cognate tRNA. In this way, the tRNA synthetases establish the rules of the genetic code and, because of this role, tRNA synthetases are essential for all forms of life. Because of decades of research of Schimmel and others, this group of enzymes is now understood to have additional novel functions, and to have deep-rooted connections to human diseases.
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