Lynne Maquat has devoted the past 40-plus years to researching and understanding the metabolism — essentially the entire life cycle — of two important genetic building blocks.
Now the University of Rochester professor has received two prestigious awards for that work.
Her focus has been on the role of RNA and messenger RNA in diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy, autoimmune disorders, and cancers.
Most recently, Maquat was awarded the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, one of the largest medical and scientific prizes in the country. She is also the 2024 recipient of the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research, awarded by Johnson & Johnson.
"If you had asked me when I was starting out my own independent lab, I could never have imagined," Maquat said after a news conference Wednesday.
"I just wanted to stay funded with NIH government funding so we could continue to unravel the puzzle around the diseases that we were studying," she added. "So I am absolutely thrilled to have survived. Not only survived but thrived."
Her research helped lay the groundwork for medical advances such as the COVID-19 vaccine and RNA therapies for muscular dystrophy undergoing trials in Rochester and across the United States.
"She's solved some of the most complex questions related to how RNA works in our cells and how it influences our health and leads to diseases," said Dr. David Linehan, CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center. "Her work has propelled RNA to the forefront of health and medicine. Right now, there are hundreds of RNA-based drugs in development for diseases as diverse as cystic fibrosis and cancer."
Maquat begain studying RNA at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where she worked for 19 years and was the only RNA biologist. She came to URMC after and has been there for 24 years. She's the director of its Center for RNA Biology.
For Maquat, the awards are also important because they emphasize the roles women have as leaders in scientific research. A champion of women in the sciences, she founded UR's Graduate Women in Science program, which encourages women to pursue careers in science and provides mentoring and development opportunities for them.
Maquat also had some advice for students. She encouraged them to use their strengths and compensate for weakness, and to chip away at what they want to do without getting ahead of themselves.
" Do the best that you can," Maquat said, “and you may be surprised where you end up."
