Sandra Lynn Wolin is an American microbiologist and

physician-scientist A physician-scientist (in North American English) or clinician-scientist (in British English and Australian English) is a physician who divides their professional time between direct clinical practice with patients and scientific research. Physicia ...

specialized in

biogenesis Spontaneous generation is a Superseded scientific theories, superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from abiotic component, non-living matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was Hypoth ...

, function, and turnover of

non-coding RNA A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is a functional RNA molecule that is not Translation (genetics), translated into a protein. The DNA sequence from which a functional non-coding RNA is transcribed is often called an RNA gene. Abundant and functionally imp ...

. She is chief of the RNA Biology Laboratory at the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

Education

Wolin completed an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences 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 ...

. She earned a M.D. from the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

and a Ph.D. degree from the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry 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 ...

. Her 1985 dissertation was titled, ''The Ro Small Cytoplasmic Ribonucleoproteins of Mammalian Cells''. Wolin's doctoral advisor was Joan A. Steitz. She carried out postdoctoral training with

Peter Walter Peter Walter (born December 5, 1954) is a German-American molecular biologist and biochemist. He is currently the Director of the Bay Area Institute of Science at Altos Labs and an emeritus professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biop ...

at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

, where she devised an early

ribosome profiling Ribosome profiling, or Ribo-Seq (also named ribosome footprinting), is an adaptation of a technique developed by Joan Steitz and Marilyn Kozak almost 50 years ago that Nicholas Ingolia and Jonathan Weissman adapted to work with next generation se ...

method.

Career

Wolin returned to the Yale School of Medicine as an assistant professor, and rose to the rank of professor in the departments of cell biology and molecular biophysics and biochemistry. From 2014-2017, she served as director of the Yale Center for RNA Science and Medicine. She joined the

(NCI) in 2017 as chief of the newly formed RNA Biology Laboratory. She heads the section on

s and

ribonucleoprotein particle A ribonucleoprotein particle (RNP) is a complex formed between RNA and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). The term RNP foci can also be used to denote intracellular compartments involved in processing of RNA transcripts. RNA/RBP complexes RBPs inter ...

s (RNPs).

Research

Wolin's research examines how noncoding RNAs function, how cells recognize and degrade defective RNAs and how failure to degrade these RNAs affects cell function and contributes to human disease. Wolin studies the

, function, and turnover of non-coding RNAs. Her laboratory has identified proteins that recognize misfolded and otherwise defective RNAs. By studying a bacterial

ortholog Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a speci ...

of one such protein, the ring-shaped Ro60

autoantigen In immunology, autoimmunity is the system of immune responses of an organism against its own healthy cells, tissues and other normal body constituents. Any disease resulting from this type of immune response is termed an "autoimmune disease". ...

, they discovered that this protein is tethered by noncoding "

Y RNA Y RNAs are small non-coding RNAs. They are components of the Ro60 ribonucleoprotein particle which is a target of autoimmune antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. They are also reported to be necessary for DNA replication throu ...

" to a ring-shaped

nuclease In biochemistry, a nuclease (also archaically known as nucleodepolymerase or polynucleotidase) is an enzyme capable of cleaving the phosphodiester bonds that link nucleotides together to form nucleic acids. Nucleases variously affect single and ...

, forming a double-ringed ribonucleoprotein machine specialized for structured RNA degradation. The laboratory is characterizing this new RNA degradation machine, identifying additional roles for Ro60 and Y RNA in both human cells and bacteria, and uncovering other pathways by which defective and damaged RNAs are recognized and degraded.

Awards and honors

Wollin is an elected fellow of the

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 ...

and

American Academy of Microbiology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Selected works

* * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolin, Sandra Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 21st-century American biologists Yale School of Medicine alumni National Institutes of Health people 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians Princeton University alumni Yale School of Medicine faculty American microbiologists American women microbiologists American cancer researchers American women medical researchers Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology American women academics Physician-scientists