The discovery of catalytic RNA, also called ribozyme, has been of great importance to both research and industry.     An important catalyst: In addition to cutting and rejoining RNA, catalytic RNA probably plays a major role in many biological processes. Life processes often require intimate cooperation between proteins and RNA. In the future researchers will probably…

I was born in Montreal in 1939, the second son of poor immigrants. My mother worked in a textile mill and my father in a grocery store before they met and married. It was from them that I learned that hard work in stable surroundings could yield rewards, even if only in infinitesimally small increments.…

Grandfather Josef, a shoemaker, immigrated to the U.S. from Bohemia in 1913. My other grandparents, also of Czech origin, were first-generation Americans. My father was and is a physician, my mother the homemaker. I was born in Chicago on December 8, 1947. The safe streets and good schools of Iowa City, Iowa provided the backdrop…

Presentation Speech by Professor Bertil Andersson of the , December 10, 1989 Translation from the Swedish text Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, The cells making up such living organisms as bacteria, plants, animals and human beings can be looked upon as chemical miracles. Simultaneously occurring in each and every one of these…

Editors: Professors Bertil Andersson and Britt-Marie Sjöberg, Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, University of Stockholm, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Illustrator: Karin Feltzin, Stockholm, Sweden Photos: M. Marsland, Yale University, University of Colorado, Boulder Printed by: Tryckindustri AB, Solna Copyright © , Information Department, Box 50005, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden, Tel. +46-8-673 95 00, Fax +46-8-15…

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1835 The Swede Jöns Jacob Berzelius describes a catalyst as a substance which can breathe life into slumbering chemical reactions. 1868 Friedrich Miescher, Switzerland isolates nucleic acids from white blood cells obtained from discarded bandages. 1877 Wilhelm Kuhne, Germany introduces the term “enzyme” and distinguishes between enzymes and bacteria. 1893 Wilhelm Ostwald, Latvia classifies enzymes…

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Sidney Altman and Thomas Cech have independently studied how the genetic code is transferred from DNA to RNA. They knew, however, that part of the genetic information is not required and must be removed from RNA before the RNA molecule can be utilized by the cell. While searching for the catalysts of RNA maturation, Altman…

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