Thomas Steitz honored with Sterling Professorship

Thomas A. Steitz, Ph.D., internationally known for his work in X-ray crystallography, has been honored with an appointment as Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.

Steitz’s research interests include the molecular structure of proteins and nucleic acids, the structural basis of enzyme mechanisms, and protein-nucleic acid interactions. He and his research team recently made a landmark scientific stride in determining the atomic structure of the ribosome’s large subunit (See Findings, Fall 2000 | Winter 2001).

Steitz joined the Yale faculty as an assistant professor in 1970 and currently serves as chair of the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Steitz has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 1986 and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.