Yimon Aye (; born 12 July 1980 in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

) is an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

molecular biologist Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

. Currently she is a professor of chemistry & chemical biology at

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Career

Aye spent her early life in

. She completed her undergraduate studies 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 ...

at the

and obtained her master's degree in 2004. She joined

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 ...

to study synthetic organic chemistry with David A. Evans, achieving her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 2009. She then moved to

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 ...

as a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation fellow to work with JoAnne Stubbe. There she performed research into the regulatory mechanisms of

ribonucleotide reductase Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), also known as ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase, is an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of deoxyribonucleotides from ribonucleotides. It catalyzes this formation by removing the 2'-hydroxyl group of the ribos ...

. In 2012, she started as an assistant professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where she began her work on redox-dependent

cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) is the Biological process, process by which a Cell (biology), cell interacts with itself, other cells, and the environment. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all Cell (biol ...

and genome maintenance pathways. During this time, she developed REX technologies, new methods to facilitate the study of unconventional electrophile-regulated stress signaling paradigms. REX technologies were one of the first approaches to forge direct links between upstream protein alteration by a reactive molecule and downstream responses. From August 2018 to August 2024 she was an associate professor of chemistry at EPFL. Since September 2024 she's leading the Aye Lab at

Awards

Aye was awarded the NSF CAREER award and Beckman Young Investigator award in 2014, the 2020 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, the 2022 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award, and the Klaus Grohe Prize 2024.

Personal life

Yimon Aye's father Soe Thein is a former Commander-in-Chief of the

Myanmar Navy The Myanmar Navy (; ) is the naval warfare branch of the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar. With 19,000 active personnel, the navy operates more than 227 vessels. Prior to 1988, the navy was small, and its role in counterinsurgency, counte ...

. She has a brother and a sister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aye, Yimon Cornell University faculty Alumni of the University of Oxford Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 21st-century American chemists American women chemists American molecular biologists American women molecular biologists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 1980 births Living people American women academics 21st-century American women scientists Burmese emigrants Immigrants to the United States Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni