Molecular biologists Allan Jacobson, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and Lynne Maquat, PhD, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, are being recognized for their contributions in identifying and describing the mechanism of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). This complex cellular pathway targets mRNA transcripts containing premature stop codons for degradation, thus preventing the formation of truncated, possibly toxic protein fragments.
