Robin Elizabeth Reed (August 1, 1956 – July 23, 2022) was an American professor of cell biology at the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. Her research considered the molecular mechanisms that underpin neurodegenerative disease.

Early life and education

Reed was born on August 1, 1956, in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

, to Nancy Nobel Reed and Lawrence Andrew Reed. She was an

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

, taking part in both dressage and show jumping. Reed was an undergraduate at

Hiram College Hiram College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Hiram, Ohio. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute by Amos Sutton Hayden and other members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The college is nonsectarian and c ...

in Ohio, where she majored in biology. She joined

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

as a technician, where she took advanced science courses to prepare herself for doctoral research there. For her PhD, she worked in the laboratory of

Sidney Altman Sidney Altman (May 7, 1939 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in ...

and was the first to clone and sequence the RNA gene. Altman acknowledged her contributions to science in his

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

lecture. Reed moved to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

for postdoctoral research, where she started working on pre-RNA splicing with Tom Maniatis. Reed characterized the branchpoint sequence in mammalian introns. She also demonstrated that exon sequences affect the splicing site choice.

Research and career

In 1989, Reed was made Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology at the

. She was promoted to Professor of Cell Biology in 1999. Reed was interested in human RNA machines, including the

survival of motor neuron Survival of motor neuron or survival motor neuron (SMN) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the '' SMN1'' and '' SMN2'' genes. SMN is found in the cytoplasm of all animal cells and also in the nuclear gems. It functions in transcriptional r ...

(SMN) complex and the TRanscription-EXport (TREX) complex. She identified the subunits of the

SF3A1 Splicing factor 3 subunit 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SF3A1'' gene. This gene encodes subunit 1 of the splicing factor 3a protein complex. The splicing factor 3a heterotrimer includes subunits 1, 2 and 3 and is necessary for ...

and SF3B complexes. Reed investigated the similarities between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia and spinal muscular atrophy. Loss of nuclear structures called "Gems" are a cellular hallmark of spinal muscular atrophy. Reed showed that patients with FUS and

TDP-43 TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43, transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDa) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TARDBP'' gene. Structure TDP-43 is 414 amino acid residues long. It consists of 4 domains: an N-terminal d ...

are also deficient in Gems, which prompted Reed to investigate the Gem phenotype. She argued that disruptions in RNA splicing were common to many motor neuron disorders. Reed also studied the

spliceosome A spliceosome is a large ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex found primarily within the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. The spliceosome is assembled from small nuclear RNAs ( snRNA) and numerous proteins. Small nuclear RNA (snRNA) molecules bind to specif ...

, a multi-component RNA machine. The

U2 spliceosomal RNA U2 spliceosomal snRNAs are a species of small nuclear RNA ( snRNA) molecules found in the major spliceosomal (Sm) machinery of virtually all eukaryotic organisms. ''In vivo'', U2 snRNA along with its associated polypeptides assemble to produce the ...

(U2 snRNA), is the target of the anti-tumor E7107, base pairs in the branchpoint sequence. She showed that E7107 causes defects in the assembly of spliceosomes and stops tight binding of U2 spliceosomal RNA. She identified that TREX was involved in packing and exporting mRNA.

Selected publications

* * *

Personal life

Reed was an athlete, playing tennis and golf. She died on July 23, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Robin 1956 births 2022 deaths People from Akron, Ohio Yale University alumni Hiram College alumni Harvard Medical School faculty 20th-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists Women biologists 20th-century American biologists