Iwona Teresa Stroynowski née Fleszar (born 1950) is a Polish-born American immunologist who is Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. She discovered the process of gene expression control called attenuation early in her career, the first example of a

riboswitch In molecular biology, a riboswitch is a regulatory segment of a messenger RNA molecule that binds a small molecule, resulting in a change in Translation (biology), production of the proteins encoded by the mRNA. Thus, an mRNA that contains a ribo ...

mechanism.

Early life and education

Stroynowski received a PhD from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1979 in the field of Genetics under the supervision of Joshua Lederberg. She became an American citizen in 1982. At Stanford, working with

Charles Yanofsky Charles Yanofsky (April 17, 1925 – March 16, 2018) was an American geneticist on the faculty of Stanford University who contributed to the establishment of the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis and discovered attenuation, a riboswitch mechanis ...

, she discovered the attenuation system regulating bacterial

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

synthesis pathways.

Academic and research career

Stroynowski undertook an extended postdoctoral research period with

Leroy Hood Leroy "Lee" Edward Hood (born October 10, 1938) is an American biologist who has served on the faculties at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Washington. Hood has developed ground-breaking scientific instrumen ...

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

, during which she changed fields from

bacterial genetics Bacterial genetics is the subfield of genetics devoted to the study of bacterial genes. Bacterial genetics are subtly different from eukaryotic genetics, however bacteria still serve as a good model for animal genetic studies. One of the major dis ...

to cellular

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

. Then she became an associate professor at

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 23,000 employees, more than 3,000 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient ...

in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology. Her current rank there is Professor of Immunology and Microbiology. Stroynowski's research has delved into the functions of the non-canonical proteins of the

Major Histocompatibility Complex The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large Locus (genetics), locus on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for Cell (biology), cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. The ...

, particularly Qa, a protein which is produced in both membrane bound and soluble forms from the same gene, due to alternative splicing.

Interferon Interferons (IFNs, ) are a group of signaling proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of several viruses. In a typical scenario, a virus-infected cell will release interferons causing nearby cells to heighten ...

induction of H-2

antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

s was another of her findings. One of her most important findings is that the Qa antigen, a non-variable histocompatibility antigen, has a role in protection from tumor formation.EY Chiang and I Stroynowski (2005) "Protective immunity to disparate tumors is mediated by a nonpolymorphic class I MHC molecule." ''J. Immunol.'' 174: 5367-5374.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stroynowski, Iwona Women molecular biologists Polish immunologists Polish molecular biologists California Institute of Technology people 1950 births Living people Polish emigrants to the United States Stanford University alumni University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center faculty