Dr. Lynne Maquat Honored with Steven C. Beering Award from IU School of Medicine

Lynne E. Maquat, Ph.D., a mechanistic biochemist, Director of the University of Rochester Medicine Center for RNA Biology, and Co-Director of the New York State Center of Excellence in RNA Research and Therapeutics (CERRT), is the winner of the 2026 Steven C. Beering Award for the Advancement of Biomedical Research. Honored for her research on RNA mechanisms that contribute to a wide range of diseases, Maquat’s work has laid the foundation for the development of treatments targeting conditions that can’t be corrected with conventional drugs.

Maquat discovered a cellular quality control mechanism known as nonsense-mediated mRNA decay or NMD. One of the major surveillance systems in the body, NMD protects against mistakes in gene expression by targeting and eliminating deleterious mRNAs that could lead to the production of incomplete and potentially toxic proteins. NMD plays a role in many disorders, including fragile X syndrome and different types of cancer.

The J. Lowell Orbison Endowed Chair and Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Rochester Medicine School of Medicine & Dentistry, Maquat also identified the molecular “players” and the routes and patterns they need to follow for NMD to work properly. Among her most noteworthy contributions is her discovery of the exon-junction complex (EJC), a splicing-dependent “mark” that tags an mRNA so the cell can define which termination codons are premature and should trigger NMD. She defined the 50-55-nucleotide rule, which determines which mRNAs containing premature termination codons are subject to degradation by NMD. She also discovered the “pioneer round of translation,” during which NMD occurs.

Given by the Indiana University School of Medicine, the annual Steven C. Beering Award honors an internationally recognized individual for outstanding research contributions to advancing biomedical or clinical science. Eight of the past Beering Award recipients have become Nobel laureates.

Maquat also holds appointments in Pediatrics and Oncology and is a member of the Wilmot Cancer Institute. She is the founding director of the Graduates Working in Science (GWIS) program at the University of Rochester and the recipient of several other significant honors, including:

· Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2024)

· Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research (2024)

· Gruber Genetics Prize (2023)

· Wolf Prize in Medicine (2021)

· Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (2021)

· Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2018)

· Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science (2017)

· Gairdner International Award (2015)

· RNA Society’s Lifetime Achievement Awards in Service (2010) and in Science (2017)

Maquat will receive her award and deliver the Beering Award lecture at Indiana University on August 31. Her lecture is titled “Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) in human health and disease: Reframing the role of FMRP in fragile X syndrome.”

Author: Emily Boynton