Rowena Green Matthews, born in 1938, is the G. Robert Greenberg Distinguished University ''

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

'' at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on the role of organic cofactors as partners of

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

s catalyzing difficult biochemical reactions, especially

folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

and

cobalamin Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. It ...

(vitamin B12). Among other honors, she was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2002 and the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

in 2004.

Early life and education

Matthews was born in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

while her father, biochemist

David E. Green David Ezra Green (August 5, 1910 – July 8, 1983) was an American biochemist who made significant contributions to the study of enzymes, particularly the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation. Life and career Green was born i ...

, was on sabbatical there. Matthews earned her B.A. in biology ''summa cum laude'' from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1960. As an undergraduate, and for three years thereafter, she worked with George Wald studying a new intermediate in the bleaching of the visual pigment

rhodopsin Rhodopsin, also known as visual purple, is a protein encoded by the RHO gene and a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). It is the opsin of the rod cells in the retina and a light-sensitive receptor protein that triggers visual phototransduction ...

that temporally coincided with initiation of visual excitation. She then attended graduate school in biophysics at the

, with dissertation research in the laboratory of

Vincent Massey Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Confederation. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada after ...

. She received her Ph.D. in 1969.

Academic career

After finishing her Ph.D., Matthews remained at the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Charles Williams in the department of Biological Chemistry and Assistant Research Scientist in the Biophysics Research Division in 1978. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1981 became a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1986, and became the G. Robert Greenberg Distinguished University Professor in 1995. In 2002, she assumed the position of Senior Research Professor and Charter Faculty Member of the Life Sciences Institute. She retired in 2007, assuming professor ''emeritus'' status.

Awards

She received numerous recognitions and honors during her career, the

Repligen Repligen is an American company devoted to the development and production of materials used in the manufacture of biological drugs. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and incorporated in Delaware in 1981. A public company, Repli ...

award given by the ACS (2001), election to the National Academy of Sciences (2002), 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 ...

(2002), the Institute of Medicine (2004), the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

(2005), and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

(2009). She received the

William C. Rose Award The William C. Rose Award given by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology recognizes outstanding contributions to biochemical and molecular biological research and a demonstrated commitment to the training of younger scientists ...

given by the

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel (Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Phy ...

in 2000 and the Repligen Corporation Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes given by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

in 2001. She was the

Frederick Gowland Hopkins Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins, even though Casimir Funk, a Po ...

Lecturer at 12th International Conference of Pteridines and Folates in 2001, an honor she particularly appreciated because her father had worked with Hopkins. She serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...

, and has served on the Council of the

. The University of Michigan hosts a professorship honoring Matthews; since 2009 James Bardwell has held the Rowena G. Matthews Collegiate Professorship.

Research

Dr. Matthew's research focused on one-carbon metabolism, with particular emphasis on the enzymes that catalyze the ''de novo'' generation of methyl groups:

methionine synthase Methionine synthase also known as MS, MeSe, MTR is responsible for the regeneration of methionine from homocysteine. In humans it is encoded by the ''MTR'' gene (5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase). Methionine synthase forms ...

, a B-12 dependent enzyme in humans, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase. Her collaboration with geneticist Rima Rozen at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

led to the cloning of human methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and the characterization of the C677T polymorphism associated with

hyperhomocysteinemia Hyperhomocysteinemia is a medical condition characterized by an abnormally high level of homocysteine in the blood, conventionally described as above 15 μmol/L. As a consequence of the biochemical reactions in which homocysteine is involved ...

in humans. The polymorphism can lead to a high amount of

homocysteine Homocysteine is a non-proteinogenic α-amino acid. It is a homologue of the amino acid cysteine, differing by an additional methylene bridge (-CH2-). It is biosynthesized from methionine by the removal of its terminal Cε methyl group. In the b ...

in the bloodstream. High concentrations of homocysteine in the plasma can increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases and the use of folic acid have been shown to decrease the amounts in humans. In collaboration with Prof. Martha Ludwig they elucidated the first X-ray structure of

vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. It ...

bound to a protein, cobalamin-dependent

Selected publications

* ''A love affair with vitamins'' (2009) * ''Cobalamin- and corrinoid-dependent enzymes'' * ''Cobalamin-dependent and cobamide-dependent methyltransferases'' (2008)

Personal life

Matthews is the eldest daughter of biochemist

and the aunt of

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Tammy Baldwin Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms in the Wisconsin Stat ...

References

External links

National Academy of Sciences InterViews podcast
with Rowena Matthews {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Rowena Green University of Michigan faculty American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American women biochemists American women biologists Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Michigan alumni Radcliffe College alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the National Academy of Medicine Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences American women academics 21st-century American women 1938 births