Deborah Mowshowitz

Deborah Mowshowitz (née Bernhardt) is an American biochemist and a Professor of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Programs and Lab Operations at Columbia University.[1] Mowshowitz was trained in pure biochemistry and has done research in RNA processing. In her early work she focused on pedagogy and biology education.[2]

Deborah Mowshowitz
Mowshowitz giving a lecture on metabolism
Alma materBrandeis University
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Children2, including Zvi Mowshowitz
AwardsPresidential Outstanding Teaching Award
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsColumbia University
Doctoral advisorJames E. Darnell

Education

Mowshowitz was awarded a BA from Brandeis University and entered the Sue Golding Graduate Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.[3] At Albert Einstein, Mowshowitz studied biochemistry under James E. Darnell and received her PhD in 1969 for a thesis entitled "tRNA synthesis in HeLa cells".[4]

Research

Mowshowitz was Darnell's first graduate student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. As Darnell's student, Mowshowitz worked on RNA processing; up until that point, it had been thought that preprocessing was limited to pre-rRNA, but Mowshowitz demonstrated the existence of pre-tRNAs as well.[5][6] Mowshowitz used gel electrophoresis to separate smaller, slower-migrating pre-tRNA candidate particles which had been labeled with radioactive uridine. She observed the pre-tRNAs under methionine-starvation conditions and proposed that the pre-tRNAs were longer than tRNAs proper.[6] Early work by Mowshowitz focused on pure biochemistry, in areas such as enzyme assays and biosynthesis in yeast. She has also published in the Journal of Virology and in Analytical Biochemistry.

Teaching

Mowshowitz joined the faculty at Columbia when Darnell, her thesis adviser at AECOM, was appointed to a professorship at Columbia and informed her of an open faculty position.[7] While Mowshowitz is trained in research, she decided to focus on teaching after joining the Columbia faculty,[7] and sought to focus on the areas of pedagogy and biology education in particular.[8] Mowshowitz personally controls the introductory biology sequence at Columbia, and lectures on occasion. She also oversees the biology department at Columbia as Director of Undergraduate Programs and Lab Operations.[9]

Mowshowitz believes in a problem-based learning approach to teaching biology, emphasizing applying deeper principles over rote memorization of pathways and structures. She has stated that she assigns students advanced problems based on famous historical experiments in her introductory classes in order to encourage them to synthesize knowledge to solve problems.[8]

Her introductory biology course is available as massive open online course.[7] She received the Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award in 1999.[3]

Selected publications
  • Mowshowitz, D.; Filner, B. (1979). "Teaching students to read the literature". Biochemical Education. 7 (1): 4–5. doi:10.1016/0307-4412(79)90004-9.
  • Mowshowitz, D (2006). "Advanced Problems in Introductory Courses: Some Sample Problems and Why they Work". Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. 34 (2): 134–138. doi:10.1002/bmb.2006.49403402134. PMID 21638657.
  • Mowshowitz, Deborah Bernhardt (1976). "Permeabilization of yeast for enzyme assays: An extremely simple method for small samples". Analytical Biochemistry. 70 (1): 94. doi:10.1016/s0003-2697(76)80051-6.
  • Mowshowitz, D (1973). "Identification of Polysomal RNA in BHK Cells Infected by Sindbis Virus". Journal of Virology. 11 (4): 535–543. PMID 4633684.

References
  1. "Dr. Mowshowitz's Teaching Award". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  2. "Old Reading Lists for C2006". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  3. Beshkin, Abigail. "Prof. Deborah Mowshowitz receives prestigious Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching". Columbia Department of Biological Sciences. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  4. Catalogue of Copyright Entries. Washington: Library of Congress Doctoral Dissertation Series. 1970. p. 135.
  5. Darnell, James (22 March 2013). "Joys and Surprises of a Career Studying Eukaryotic Gene Expression" (PDF). Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288 (18): 12957–12966. doi:10.1074/jbc.X113.471722. PMC 3642338. PMID 23525107. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  6. Mowshowitz, Deborah; Darnell, James E (1969). "tRNA Synthesis in Hela Cells : A Precursor to tRNA and the Effects of Methionine Starvation on tRNA Synthesis" (PDF). Journal of Molecular Biology. 42: 43–56. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(69)90485-9. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  7. Saunders, Reuben and Cui, Victoria (26 January 2013). "WiGH? #13: Monkey Wrench Problems in Intro Biology" (Podcast). Journal of Global Health. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Mowshowitz, Deborah (2006). "Using Advanced Problems in Introductory Courses" (PDF). Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. 34 (2): 134–138. doi:10.1002/bmb.2006.49403402134. PMID 21638657. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  9. "Faculty Biography". Columbia University Department of Biological Sciences. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
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