In Memoriam: 2000s

Notices sorted by graduation date

Deirdre Catherine Tatomer (Col ’02) of San Mateo, California, died Dec. 6, 2020. After earning her bachelor’s degree in chemistry, she worked as a research assistant in the Leitman lab at University of California, San Francisco. She continued her work in the Marzluff and Duronio labs at the University of North Carolina, where she earned her doctorate in molecular, cell and developmental biology. She pursued postdoctoral studies in the Wilusz lab at the University of Pennsylvania. An RNA researcher, she discovered that the integrator complex, known for its role in snRNA 3’ formation, also functions to attenuate transcription of more than 800 protein-coding genes by cleaving nascent transcripts. Appointed as a Stadtman tenure-track investigator and National Institutes of Health Distinguished Scholar, she was in the process of starting her own lab at the National Cancer Institute, Center for Cancer Research. The irony is uncanny. She was struck down by an illness she was about to study, exploring RNA in a world pinning its hopes on an RNA vaccine. She loved keeping up with friends in the scientific community and with her young nieces and nephews. Survivors include her parents, Mary and William Tatomer (Col ’67, Med ’71); and her sister and brother.