Pyle Named Howard Hughes Investigator

Dr. Anna Marie Pyle, P&S associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, has been selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator. This year 70 new HHMI investigators were selected through the nationwide competition, the largest expansion ever undertaken in one step by the institute, increasing the number of Hughes investigators by approximately 25 percent.

Dr. Pyle, who received tenure this summer, will study RNA folding and ribozyme catalysis as a Hughes investigator. Her research focuses on understanding the forces that cause RNA molecules to fold into stable structures and to form active sites capable of catalyzing chemical reactions. Dr. Pyle earned the National Science Foundation's prestigious National Young Investigator Award in September 1994. She rose to success quickly in her field after graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 1985 and earning a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Columbia in 1990. She conducted postdoc research at the University of Colorado from 1990 to 1992. Listed among her previous commendations are the Beckman Young Investigator Award (1994 to 1996), Searle Scholars Award (1993 to 1996), and the Irma T. Hirschl and Monique Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award (1992 to 1997).

The Hughes Institute is the largest philanthropic organization in the United States and enters into long-term research collaboration agreements with universities and other academic research organizations where its investigators hold faculty appointments. Under such agreements, HHMI investigators, who become employees of the institute, conduct research in institute laboratories located on the various campuses. Hughes investigators conduct biomedical research in five areas: cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology. In recent years, they have made significant discoveries related to obesity, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and many other medical problems.

Two formal ongoing Hughes programs at Columbia are the HHMI Program in Structural Biology, which focuses on the biophysical nature of molecular structure, and the HHMI Program in Molecular Neurobiology, which is centered on the workings of the brain, how nerve cells signal, how neural circuits are formed during development, and how animals perceive their environment and develop their behavior through learning.