Terry Orr-Weaver
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Terry L. Orr-Weaver is an American molecular biologist in the
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
Department of Biology with a joint appointment to the Whitehead Institute. She does research on
developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...
, with a focus on " ordination of cell growth and division with development, with particular focus on the oocyte-to-embryo transition, control of cell size, and regulation of
metazoan Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ho ...
DNA replication In molecular biology, DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all life, living organisms, acting as the most essential part of heredity, biolog ...
." Orr-Weaver and her collaborators have identified two proteins necessary for the proper sorting of chromosomes during meiosis with implications for cancer and birth defects. In 2006 she was elected to the
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 ...
.


Education

Terry Orr-Weaver received her PhD in biological chemistry in 1984 from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. She was the first graduate student advised by Nobel laureate Jack Szostak in his career, and he discussed her research in his Nobel biography.


Academic and research career

Orr-Weaver was a faculty member at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
and also at the
Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indep ...
, both of which she joined in 1987. She became a
Searle Scholar The Searle Scholars Program is a career development award made annually to support 15 young faculty in biomedical research and chemistry at US universities and research centers. The goal of the award is to support to exceptional young scientists wh ...
in 1988. She was appointed an American Cancer Society Research Professor at MIT in 2008. She served as the President of the Genetics Society of America in 2005, and President of the National ''Drosophila'' Board in 2008. In 2013 she received the
FASEB Excellence in Science Award The Excellence in Science Award was established by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in 1989 to recognize outstanding achievement by women in biological science. All women who are members of one or more of the so ...
. Orr-Weaver's research concerns the cell cycle and delves into both normal and abnormal aspects of cell division regulation in such diseases as cancer and certain birth defects. She and her collaborators have particularly elucidated the way the cell cycle is coordinated with development. They have shown that ''cortex'' protein specifically triggers the anaphase-promoting complex in ovaries and the degradation of ''cortex'' protein following egg-activation is strictly controlled. They have also established that ''Inducer of Meiosis 4 (IME4)'' is required for an important step, ''Notch'' signaling, to occur in fruit fly ovaries. She is the co-author, with Harvey Lodish, of the book ''Model Organisms: Drosophila,'' published in 1997 by Academic Press. In 1994, Orr-Weaver was one of 16 women faculty in the School of Science at MIT who drafted and co-signed a letter to the then-Dean of Science (now Chancellor of Berkeley) Robert Birgeneau, which started a campaign to highlight and challenge gender discrimination at MIT.


Awards and honors

* 2005–06 President of the
Genetics Society of America The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is a scholarly membership society of more than 5,500 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931. The Society was formed from the reorganization of the Joint Genetics Sections of the American Soc ...
* 2006 Fellow of the
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 ...
* 2006
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 ...
* 2010 Fellow of American Association for Advancement of Science * 2013
FASEB Excellence in Science Award The Excellence in Science Award was established by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in 1989 to recognize outstanding achievement by women in biological science. All women who are members of one or more of the so ...
* 2018 Flexner Discovery Lecturer at Vanderbilt University


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orr-Weaver, Terry Living people 21st-century American biologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty American women scientists Harvard University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics Whitehead Institute faculty 21st-century American women scientists