Alan T. Waterman Award

Angelika Amon博士是一位年轻的细胞生物学家，她研究染色体在细胞分裂之前是如何复制和分裂的。她曾被选为2003年美国国家科学基金会艾伦·t·沃特曼奖的获得者。该奖项是美国国家科学基金会授予年轻科学家和工程师的最高荣誉，以该基金会第一任主任的名字命名。艾伦·t·沃特曼奖获得者将获得一枚奖章和一笔50万美元的赠款，用于在三年内追求她的科学兴趣。阿蒙博士是第四位获得沃特曼奖的女性，也是麻省理工学院的第三位获奖者。尽管阿蒙博士的发现是基于对酵母的基础研究，但它们可能会让我们更好地了解导致肿瘤、出生缺陷和流产的细胞功能障碍。阿蒙是麻省理工学院癌症研究中心的教员，也是霍华德休斯医学研究所（HHMI）的研究员。她的论文被称为“经典”，她的研究被认为“彻底改变了细胞周期领域的方向”。阿蒙博士研究了细胞繁殖中两个关键过程的复杂机制：有丝分裂和减数分裂。一个细胞要精确地复制，然后再精确地复制，它的遗传信息必须被复制，在子细胞分离之前，一个拷贝必须进入每个子细胞。当细胞准备分裂时，编码其所有遗传信息的DNA被打包成称为染色体的结构。高等生物的大多数细胞含有双重遗传信息，在细胞分裂之前，这些信息被包装成双重染色体。在有丝分裂中，具有双染色体的“母”细胞分裂成两个“子”细胞，每个“子”细胞都具有双染色体，其中包含与其“母”细胞相同的遗传信息。在减数分裂中，来自“母”细胞的双组染色体被分类，这样每个产生的细胞都得到一组染色体。减数分裂过程中产生的细胞称为“配子”，专门用于有性生殖；雄性配子是精子，雌性配子是卵子。通过有丝分裂将染色体分选为子细胞或通过减数分裂将染色体分选为“配子”需要精确编排的生化芭蕾，因为各种分子结合、激活、抑制并最终调节染色体的运动和分选。阿蒙发现这些过程涉及到调节因子，这些调节因子本身是由一种叫做“纺锤体位置检查点”的机制调节的。在染色体成功分裂成新细胞的过程中，时间就是一切。如果子细胞在没有首先得到完全完整的染色体的情况下进行“有丝分裂退出”，它们就不会表现良好。阿蒙博士的长期目标是测试她在酵母中发现的机制是否也适用于哺乳动物细胞，并确定它们在肿瘤形成或染色体缺失或额外的非整倍体中起什么作用。

Dr. Angelika Amon is a young cell biologist who explores how chromosomes are duplicated and partitioned prior to cell division. She has been selected as the 2003 recipient of the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award. This award is the National Science Foundation's highest honor for young scientists and engineers and is named for the first director of the Foundation. The Alan T. Waterman awardee receives a medal and a grant of a $500,000 over three years to pursue her scientific interests. Dr. Amon is the fourth woman to receive the Waterman Award and the third recipient from MIT. Though Dr. Amon's findings are based on fundamental studies in yeast, they could lead to a better understanding of cellular malfunctions resulting in tumors, birth defects and miscarriages.Dr. Amon is a faculty member of the Center for Cancer Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Her papers have been characterized as "classics," and her studies have been said to have "completely reoriented the cell-cycle field." Dr. Amon examines the intricate mechanisms of two key processes in cell reproduction: mitosis and meiosis. For a cell to replicate exactly, and then exactly again after that, its genetic information must be duplicated and a copy must go into each daughter cell before the daughter cells go their separate ways. When a cell prepares to divide, the DNA encoding all its genetic information is packaged into structures called chromosomes. Most of the cells of higher organisms contain a double set of genetic information, which, prior to cell division, is packaged into a double set of chromosomes. In mitosis, a "mother" cell, with its double set of chromosomes, divides into two "daughter" cells, each with a double set of chromosomes containing the same genetic information as its "mother." In meiosis, the double set of chromosomes from the "mother" cell is sorted so that each resulting cell receives a single set of chromosomes. The cells resulting from the process of meiosis are called "gametes" and are specialized for sexual reproduction; male gametes are sperm, and female gametes are eggs. The sorting of chromosomes into daughter cells by mitosis or into "gametes" by meiosis requires a precisely choreographed biochemical ballet as various molecules bind to, activate, inhibit, and ultimately regulate the movements and sorting of chromosomes.Dr. Amon has discovered that these processes involve regulators that are themselves regulated by a mechanism called "spindle position checkpoint." In the successful partitioning of chromosomes to new cells, timing is everything. Daughter cells do not do well if they make their "mitotic exit" without first receiving an exactly complete complement of chromosomes. Dr. Amon's long-term goals are to test whether the mechanisms she has discovered in yeast also operate in mammalian cells and to determine what role they play in tumor formation or in aneuploidy, the condition of missing or extra chromosomes.