Marilyn Kozak was listed as one of the top 10 Women Scientists of the 80's in an article published by
The Scientist. This was awarded based on the number of citations for their published work between 1981-1988. During this time, Kozak had 3,107 citations.[4] Her most cited work was from 1984, entitled "Compilation and analysis of sequences upstream from the translational start site in eukaryotic
mRNAs".[8] This paper highlighted the research that brought the known cellular mRNAs from 32 to 166.
Controversy
In March 2001, Kozak published a mini-review in the Journal of
Molecular and Cellular Biology entitled "New Ways of Initiating Translation in Eukaryotes?" that resulted in push-back from the scientific community.[9] In her publication, Kozak discussed her hesitation towards the role of cellular
internal ribosome entry sites (IRES). This was most heavily refuted by Robert Schneider, who published a response article of the same name in the same Journal in Dec. 2001.[10] In this response, Schneider claimed that in publishing her mini-review, Kozak hoped to increase the validity of her own findings. He further stated that Kozak's publication was not up to scholarly standards and should not have been accepted into the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Biology.[10] The existence of cellular IRESes remains controversial.[11][12][13]
Contributions
Along with her published work, Kozak has contributed to the scientific community with her role on the editorial board for the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Biology. She has been listed intermittently as an editor between the years 1983-1991.[14][15][16]
Selected works
This is a selection of Kozak's work but not a complete list.
Kozak, M (1987). "At least six nucleotides preceding the AUG initiator codon enhance translation in mammalian cells". J Mol Biol. 196 (4): 947–50.
doi:
10.1016/0022-2836(87)90418-9.
PMID3681984.[19]
Kozak, M (2008). "Faulty old ideas about translational regulation paved the way for current confusion about how microRNAs function". Gene. 423 (2): 108–15.
doi:
10.1016/j.gene.2008.07.013.
PMID18692553.[7]
^Kozak, M; Nathans, D (14 September 1972). "Differential inhibition of coliphage MS2 protein synthesis by ribosome-directed antibiotics". Journal of Molecular Biology. 70 (1): 41–55.
doi:
10.1016/0022-2836(72)90162-3.
PMID4561347.
^Kozak, M (31 January 1986). "Point mutations define a sequence flanking the AUG initiator codon that modulates translation by eukaryotic ribosomes". Cell. 44 (2): 283–92.
doi:
10.1016/0092-8674(86)90762-2.
PMID3943125.
S2CID15613863.
^
abKozak, Marilyn (2008-11-01). "Faulty old ideas about translational regulation paved the way for current confusion about how microRNAs function". Gene. 423 (2): 108–115.
doi:
10.1016/j.gene.2008.07.013.
ISSN0378-1119.
PMID18692553.
^Kozak, Marilyn (1987-08-20). "At least six nucleotides preceding the AUG initiator codon enhance translation in mammalian cells". Journal of Molecular Biology. 196 (4): 947–950.
doi:
10.1016/0022-2836(87)90418-9.
ISSN0022-2836.
PMID3681984.