Susan Lee Lindquist (1949 2016)
Lindquist was a visionary and pioneer who transformed our understanding of how protein folding sculpts biology, evolution, and disease. She revealed several unanticipatedmechanismsbywhich protein folding can buffer, release, and potentiate genetic variation in response to environmental stress, thereby enabling the rapid evolution of beneficial new traits. Her discoveries provide a rich framework for innovative therapeutic interventions in several fatal diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and cancer.
Nature