Biophysical scientist honored as society fellow

Thomas Record, a biophysical chemist at UW–Madison, has been named one of six 2006 Society Fellows by the Biophysical Society, a 7,000-member U.S. organization that represents global biophysics research.

A chaired professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Record hopes that the new honor will help in continuing to attract talented students and extramural funding for his research.

A UW–Madison faculty member for 35 years, Record is a basic scientist whose laboratory has long explored how cell proteins recognize and bind to DNA sequences, a critical process for the expression of genetic information. Record and his group have described, for instance, the binding behavior of a protein known as RNA polymerase, which, like a tiny molecular machine, recognizes where gene sequences begin on DNA and effectively translates that information into a “cellular recipe” for protein manufacture.

Before joining the UW–Madison faculty in 1970, Record completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University and received a doctoral degree in biophysical chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. As an undergraduate, Record studied chemistry at Yale University.