Roy R. Parker

Dr. Roy Parker is the Cech-Leinwand Endowed Chair of Biochemistry at University of Colorado Boulder, where he is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The control of biological processes, such as cellular growth and differentiation, is dependent on how the genetic material within a cell is expressed. The cellular physiology of mRNA—including mRNA processing, transport, localization, and turnover—is central to the process of gene expression. Parker’s laboratory focuses on understanding how cells regulate the translation and degradation of mRNAs. In eukaryotic cells the decay rates and the translation rates of individual mRNAs can be quite different, and these processes can be regulated in response to a variety of signals, including specific hormones and viral infection, or as a consequence of differentiation. Parker seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms that control mRNA stability and translation rate in eukaryotic cells, using yeast as a model system. He is known for his work to describe two major pathways of mRNA decay in eukaryotic cells as well as the keystone enzymes involved in these pathways. He has also made major contributions to understanding molecular changes that affect RNA translation, structure, and function. Parker has received the MERIT Award of the National Institutes of Health, serves on the editorial boards of Science, Cell, and the Journal of Cell Biology, and has been recognized with membership in the National Academy of Sciences in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. His publications appear in Cell, Molecular Cell, and Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.