Deborah Mowshowitz
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Deborah Mowshowitz | |
|---|---|
 Mowshowitz giving a lecture on metabolism | |
| Alma mater | Brandeis University Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
| Children | 2, including Zvi Mowshowitz |
| Awards | Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | Columbia University |
| Doctoral advisor | James E. Darnell |
Deborah Mowshowitz (née Bernhardt) is an American biochemist and a Professor of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Programs and Lab Operations at Columbia University.[1] Mowshowitz was trained in pure biochemistry and has done research in RNA processing. In her early work she focused on pedagogy and biology education.[2]
Mowshowitz was awarded a BA from Brandeis University and entered the Sue Golding Graduate Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.[3] At Albert Einstein, Mowshowitz studied biochemistry under James E. Darnell and received her PhD in 1969 for a thesis entitled "tRNA synthesis in HeLa cells".[4]
Research
Mowshowitz was Darnell's first graduate student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. As Darnell's student, Mowshowitz worked on RNA processing; up until that point, it had been thought that preprocessing was limited to pre-rRNA, but Mowshowitz demonstrated the existence of pre-tRNAs as well.[5][6] Mowshowitz used gel electrophoresis to separate smaller, slower-migrating pre-tRNA candidate particles which had been labeled with radioactive uridine. She observed the pre-tRNAs under methionine-starvation conditions and proposed that the pre-tRNAs were longer than tRNAs proper.[6] Early work by Mowshowitz focused on pure biochemistry, in areas such as enzyme assays and biosynthesis in yeast. She has also published in the Journal of Virology and in Analytical Biochemistry.