Tom Cech studies the structures and mechanisms of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and RNA-protein complexes, such as the telomerase RNA-TERT protein complex, which extends chromosome ends. Vast numbers of lncRNAs have been identified in mammals, some of which are involved in regulating histone-modifying proteins and thereby transcription. Cech and his team are taking a mechanistic and biophysical approach to studying proteins that bind these lncRNAs. They are combining protein purification and rigorous binding analyses with genome-wide experiments and single-molecule live-cell imaging to interrogate the biology of these non-coding ribonucleoproteins.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today that Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator Jennifer Doudna of University of California, Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens are the recipients of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of a method for genome editing. Thomas R. Cech, President of HHMI since January 2000, today announced that he would step down as head of the Institute in spring 2009. HHMI announces that it will require its scientists to publish their original research articles in scientific journals that allow public access within six months of publication. HHMI and Elsevier have established an agreement to make author manuscripts of articles published in Elsevier and Cell Press journals publicly available six months following final publication. HHMI’s Trustees have announced that Thomas R. Cech of the University of Colorado at Boulder will become the next president of the Institute.