Anna Marie Pyle is an American academic who is a Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and a Professor of Chemistry at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. and an Investigator for

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

. Pyle is the president of the RNA Society, the vice-chair of the Science and Technology Steering Committee at

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, a hamlet of the Brookhaven, New York, Town of Brookhaven. It w ...

, and previously she served as chair of the Macromolecular Structure and Function A Study Section at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

Early life and education

Pyle grew up in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, and it was there that she first became interested in science. But it wasn't until after earning her bachelor's degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

that she committed to a career in chemistry. In 1990, she graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

with a Ph.D. in chemistry. Pyle went on to postdoc at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

until in 1992 she established a research group at

Columbia University Medical Center Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) is the academic medical center of Columbia University and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The center's academic wing consists of Columbia's colleges and schools of Physicia ...

in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. In 2002, she moved to Yale University.

Research

Pyle joined

in 2002. She researches the architectural features of large

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

molecules and RNA remodeling enzymes using experimental

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

and

crystallography Crystallography is the branch of science devoted to the study of molecular and crystalline structure and properties. The word ''crystallography'' is derived from the Ancient Greek word (; "clear ice, rock-crystal"), and (; "to write"). In J ...

. such as self-splicing introns and other noncoding RNAs. She has focused her research to understand how large RNAs assemble into specific, stable tertiary structures, and also how ATP-dependent enzymes in the cell recognize and remodel RNA. Specifically, she was successful in crystallizing and solving the structure of a group IIC intron from the bacterium '' Oceanobacillus iheyensis'' and moves through the stages of splicing. Pyle's research may be helpful in drug development as RNA's tertiary structure could provide insight into druggable biomolecules.

Selected awards and honors

* 2023 Elected member of the U.S.

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 2018 Appointed as Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology * 2007 Elected

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

(AAAS) Fellow * 2005 Appointed member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyle, Anna Marie Living people Yale University faculty Yale Sterling Professors Princeton University alumni American women biochemists Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Year of birth missing (living people) People from Albuquerque, New Mexico Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences American women academics 21st-century American women