Thomas R. Cech

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Thomas R. Cech

1947-

American chemist whose work on the structure and function of chromosomes was recognized by a number of prizes, including the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with Sidney Altman. Cech's studies of RNA and nuclear enzymes helped to elucidate the process by which chromosomes are manipulated so that genetic information can be read, copied, and used by cells.