JoAnne Stubbe is an American chemist best known for her work on ribonucleotide reductases, for which she was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2009.
Education
After she received Doctor of Philosophy degree in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, Stubbe taught at Williams College (1972-1977) and the Yale School of Medicine (1977-1980) and held postdoctoral research positions at the University of California, Los Angeles (1971-1972) and Brandeis University (1975-1977).
Career
She is the Novartis Professor of Chemistry & Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Born in Champaign, Illinois., Stubbe received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1980, she moved to the University of Wisconsin, serving as assistant professor in the Biochemistry Department.
In 1987, Stubbe became a professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chemistry Department, where she became the first woman to receive tenure in that department.
She received a joint appointment in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Biology Department in 1990. Stubbe pioneered the use of spectroscopic investigations of enzyme interactions and has devoted most of her career to elucidating the biochemical mechanisms behind free radicals.
In her early work at Yale and then at the University of Wisconsin, Stubbe discovered how enzymes called ribonucleotide reductases use free-radical chemistry to convert nucleotides into deoxynucleotides, an essential process in deoxyribonucleic acid repair and replication. Her analysis of the nucleotide reduction process led to a number of applications, including the anti-cancer drug gemcitabine, which is used to treat various carcinomas, such as pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer.
Stubbe, in collaboration with John Kozarich, also elucidated the structure and function of bleomycin, an antibiotic that is commonly used to treat cancer.
They discovered how bleomycin induces deoxyribonucleic acid strand breaks in tumor cells, which in turn induces apoptosis. In her current research, Stubbe continues to study the function of ribonucleotide reductases and the mechanisms of clinically useful drugs. She has also extended her research into polyhydroxybutyrates, a class of biodegradable polymers that can be synthesized by bacteria under certain conditions and then converted into plastics.
Membership
National Academy of Sciences.