John T. Lis (born in

Willimantic, Connecticut Willimantic is a census-designated place located in Windham, Connecticut, United States. Previously organized as a city and later as a Borough (Connecticut), borough, Willimantic is currently one of two Local government in Connecticut#Special ta ...

) is the

Barbara McClintock Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was an American scientist and cytogenetics, cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University ...

Professor of Molecular Biology & Genetics at the

Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences The New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University (CALS or Ag School) is one of Cornell University, Cornell University's four Statutory college#Cornell University, statutory colleges, and is the only agricultural ...

. Dr. Lis was a recipient of a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 2000 for his research on protein templating in the propagation of gene activity. * Harvey Lecture, 2018

Research

Dr. Lis has been a faculty member at Cornell University since 1978 obtaining full professorship in 1991. His research program has been supported by 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 ...

, including a MERIT Award,

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

, Cornell Biotechnology Institute, and a

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

University Exploratory Research Grant. Dr. Lis is the director of the Lis Lab which investigates molecular mechanisms of

gene regulation Regulation of gene expression, or gene regulation, includes a wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products (protein or RNA). Sophisticated programs of gene expression are wide ...

eukaryotes The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms are eukaryotes. They constitute a major group of ...

using as a primary model the robustly and rapidly activated heat shock genes.

Education

Dr. Lis received his B.S. in

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

1970 and his Ph.D. in

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 ...

from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

in 1975. He completed his postdoctoral work at

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 ...

from 1975 to 1978 focusing on

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' (), from Ancient Greek δρόσος (''drósos''), meaning "dew", and φίλος (''phílos''), meaning "loving", is a genus of fly, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or p ...

and

chromosome structure Eukaryotic chromosome structure refers to the levels of packaging from raw DNA molecules to the Chromosome, chromosomal structures seen during metaphase in mitosis or meiosis. Chromosomes contain long strands of DNA containing genetic information. C ...

, during which he was supported by a fellowship from the

Helen Hay Whitney Foundation The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, established in New York in 1943 by Joan Whitney Payson in cooperation with the estate planning of her mother, Helen Hay Whitney (1875–1944), awards the "Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship" for support p ...

.Endowed Professorships

References

External links

Cornell University Faculty Profile: John T. LisLis Lab Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lis, John T. Brandeis University alumni Cornell University faculty Fairfield University alumni American geneticists American molecular biologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)