Drs. Joan and Ron Conaway were recognized for In Vitro Reconstitution of RNA Polymerase II Transcription. In 1991, they isolated and reconstituted RNA polymerase II transcription with purified proteins, thus proving the existence of general transcription factors that regulate gene expression. Using the rat liver system, they successfully identified five distinct enzyme fractions that were essential for specific transcription. Ultimately, the Conaways' work demonstrated that promoter-specific transcription could be reconstituted in vitro with RNA polymerase II and five purified transcription factors. This work allowed the definition of the minimal transcriptional machinery required for promoter-specific transcription by pol II and set the stage for future studies of transcriptional regulation during normal cell growth and development and in disease.

     Dr. Workman was recognized for his contributions to The Identification of Chromatin Remodelling Complexes. He and his colleagues purified the yeast Swi/Snf complex, showed it stimulated binding of the GAL4 transcription factor to nucleosomal DNA, and originated a functional test of chromatin remodelling. Their work was published in Science in 1994.

     “Joan and Ron Conaway and Jerry Workman have well-earned reputations as world leaders in research on the regulation of gene expression,” said Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., Scientific Director of the Stowers Institute. “Their recognition in Milestones in Gene Expression is a richly deserved honor that is celebrated by all of their colleagues here in Kansas City.”

     In 2004, the editors of the Nature Publishing Group credited Stowers Institute Investigator Olivier Pourquié, Ph.D., with one of 24 notable discoveries in developmental biology over the past 100 years. His discovery of the segmentation clock that controls somite formation in the embryo is the subject of Somitogenesis and Molecular Clocks, the most recent entry in the list of Milestones in Development.

     Milestones in Development also acknowledged the research contributions of Dr. Krumlauf to Homeotic Genes and Colinearity. Dr. Krumlauf showed that mouse and fly Hox genes have similar spatial and functional organization.

     Rong Li, Ph.D., who recently joined the Stowers Institute as an Investigator, was recognized by the Nature Publishing Group when they published Milestones in Cell Division in 2001. Dr. Li was recognized for her contributions to The Mitotic Checkpoint, the 18^th of 23 landmark discoveries in cell division in the last 100 years. In 1991, she and her colleagues identified the spindle checkpoint by showing the existence of a feedback-control mechanism that prevents cells from leaving mitosis if their mitotic spindle has been incompletely assembled. They isolated mutants that exit mitosis and proceed to the next phase of the cell cycle, despite defects in spindle formation.

     “The Stowers Institute recruits scientists whose best work lies ahead of them,” said Bill Neaves, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Stowers Institute, “but the Nature Publishing Group’s recent recognition of Ron and Joan Conaway and Jerry Workman, and their previous acknowledgment of Olivier Pourquié, Robb Krumlauf, and Rong Li, underline the reality that many have already made discoveries of great significance to their fields.”

     Nature Publishing Group initiated their Milestones series in 2001 with Milestones in Cell Division, followed with Milestones in Development. The latest addition, Milestones in Gene Expression, highlights the most influential discoveries in the fields of transcription and chromatin over the past 50 years. The editors selected the listed discoveries with the help of 36 experts in gene regulation and wrote the accompanying articles. They emphasized research discoveries that provided key insights into mechanisms of transcription and its regulation by chromatin.

     Milestones in Gene Expression, a collaboration between Nature, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Nature Reviews Genetics, and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, is sponsored by the Applied Biosystems, Agendia BV, March of Dimes and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.