Catherine Louise Kearney Squires was a microbiologist known for her work on

ribosomal RNA Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosomal ...

using ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

'' as a model organism. She was an elected fellow of the

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

and the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Education and career

Squires grew up in

Winters, California Winters is a city in rural Yolo County, and the western Sacramento Valley, in northern California. The population of Winters was 6,624 as of the 2010 Census. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City, CA-NV Combined Statistical A ...

and attended San Juan High School. She earned a B.A. (1963) and an M.A. (1967) from the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. She then moved to the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

where she earned her Ph.D. in 1972. Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral scientist at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

where she worked with

Charles Yanofsky Charles Yanofsky (April 17, 1925 – March 16, 2018) was an American geneticist on the faculty of Stanford University who contributed to the establishment of the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis and discovered attenuation, a riboswitch mechanis ...

. She moved to Dartmouth College in 1974, and subsequently accepted a position at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1977. In 1994, she moved to

Tufts University School of Medicine The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a Private university, private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in downto ...

and then retired from there in 2007. She returned to Stanford University as a visiting professor until 2009. Squires was the editor-in-chief of

Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews ''Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews'' (published as MMBR) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriol ...

from 1997 until 2000.

Research

Squires is known for her research on ribosomal RNA and the tools she established to study the function and structure of ribosomes. She began working on mutants of ''Escherichia coli w''hile at University of California, Davis where she examined the temperature dependence of growth in the bacterium. While at Stanford, she worked on regulation of the tryptophan operon in ''Escherichia coli.'' Her husband, Craig Squires, was experienced in sequencing tRNAs and they collaborated to determine the sequence of β subunit of RNA polymerase and worked on

heat shock protein Heat shock proteins (HSP) are a family of proteins produced by cells in response to exposure to stressful conditions. They were first described in relation to heat shock, but are now known to also be expressed during other stresses including expo ...

s. Squires' research established a mutant of ''Escherichia coli'' (strain Δ7) which had all seven of its ''rrn'' operons removed. Squires was a critic of the

Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...

and in 1992 she noted the project used funds that could be better applied in other scientific endeavors.

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

Squires was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (1994) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2002).

Personal life

Squires was a fan of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

and accumulated Elvis memorabilia while at Tufts University. After her retirement she moved to Winters, California, in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Squires, Catherine 1941 births 2021 deaths Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of California, Davis alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Tufts University School of Medicine faculty Women microbiologists Women biochemists People from Winters, California