Anna Marie Pyle appointed Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Anna Marie Pyle, newly appointed as Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, studies RNA structure and RNA recognition by protein enzymes.
The Sterling Professorship is the highest honor bestowed on Yale faculty.
Through her studies on large RNA molecules such as viral genomes and self-splicing introns, Pyle has elucidated RNA folding pathways, the building blocks of RNA tertiary structure, and mechanisms of chemical catalysis by RNA. In parallel, Pyle and her group elucidated the molecular mechanism of mechanical proteins that bind RNA molecules and modulate their structures. These investigations have led to new insights in virology, innate immunity, RNA processing, and molecular evolution.
Pyle earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Princeton University and received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University. After performing postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado, Pyle established her own research group in 1992 at Columbia University Medical Center. In 2002, she joined the Yale faculty and prior to her new appointment, Pyle was the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She is also a professor of chemistry and has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 1997. Pyle teaches the undergraduate Molecular Biology course (MCDB200) at Yale.
In addition to her work at Yale, Pyle is the vice-chair of the Science and Technology Steering Committee at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where she is also an advisor to the National Synchrotron Light Source II. She was recently elected president of the RNA Society, and she previously served as chair of the MSFA Study Section at the National Institutes of Health.
The Yale professor is co-editor of “Methods in Enzymology” and author of more than 160 publications. She serves on the editorial boards of eLife and the Journal of Molecular Biology, among other journals. Pyle’s honors include membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and two awards from the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
