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Best Female Scientists
2025

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Best Female Scientists

D-Index
108
Citations
48911
World Ranking
967
National Ranking
591

Genetics

D-Index
109
Citations
50273
World Ranking
548
National Ranking
276

Molecular Biology

D-Index
109
Citations
50273
World Ranking
385
National Ranking
222

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 1998 - Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • 1993 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1992 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1991 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1990 - Genetics Society of America Medal

Overview

Nancy Kleckner is a researcher affiliated with Harvard University in the United States. Their work spans the disciplines of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology, with a significant focus on Molecular Biology alongside contributions to Genetics, Plant Science, Cell Biology, and Biomedical Engineering.

The main topics of their research include:

  • DNA Repair Mechanisms
  • Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
  • Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
  • Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
  • DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry
  • Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
  • Evolution and Genetic Dynamics

Some frequently published venues for their work are bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Nature, Annual Review of Genetics, Nature Microbiology, and Current Biology.

Their recent papers include:

  • "Meiosis: Dances Between Homologs" (2023), published in Annual Review of Genetics
  • "General quantitative relations linking cell growth and the cell cycle in Escherichia coli" (2020), published in Nature Microbiology
  • "Evolution of crossover interference enables stable autopolyploidy by ensuring pairwise partner connections in Arabidopsis arenosa" (2021), published in Current Biology
  • "Single-Particle Studies Reveal a Nanoscale Mechanism for Elastic, Bright, and Repeatable ZnS:Mn Mechanoluminescence in a Low-Pressure Regime" (2021), published in ACS Nano
  • "High Temporal Resolution 3D Live-Cell Imaging of Budding Yeast Meiosis Defines Discontinuous Actin/Telomere-Mediated Chromosome Motion, Correlated Nuclear Envelope Deformation and Actin Filament Dynamics" (2021), published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

Frequent co-authors collaborating with Nancy Kleckner include:

  • Denise Zickler
  • Beth Weiner
  • Martin A. White
  • Tadasu Nozaki
  • Mara Prentiss

In recognition of their contributions to science, the following awards have been conferred upon them:

  • Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (1998) for Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1993)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (1992)
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991)
  • Genetics Society of America Medal (1990)

Best Publications

  • Capturing Chromosome Conformation

    Job Dekker;Karsten Rippe;Martijn Dekker;Nancy Kleckner

  • Improved single and multicopy lac-based cloning vectors for protein and operon fusions

    R.W. Simons;F. Houman;N. Kleckner

  • Meiosis-specific DNA double-strand breaks are catalyzed by Spo11, a member of a widely conserved protein family.

    Scott Keeney;Craig N Giroux;Nancy Kleckner

  • Meiotic chromosomes: integrating structure and function.

    D. Zickler;N. Kleckner

  • DMC1: a meiosis-specific yeast homolog of E. coli recA required for recombination, synaptonemal complex formation, and cell cycle progression.

    Douglas K. Bishop;Demian Park;Liuzhong Xu;Nancy Kleckner

  • A method for gene disruption that allows repeated use of URA3 selection in the construction of multiply disrupted yeast strains.

    Eric Alani;Liang Cao;Nancy Kleckner

  • Transposable elements in prokaryotes.

    Nancy Kleckner

  • Recombination, Pairing, and Synapsis of Homologs during Meiosis

    Denise Zickler;Nancy Kleckner

  • A pathway for generation and processing of double-strand breaks during meiotic recombination in S. cerevisiae

    Liang Cao;Eric Alani;Nancy Kleckner

  • Analysis of wild-type and rad50 mutants of yeast suggests an intimate relationship between meiotic chromosome synapsis and recombination

    Eric Alani;Ruth Padmore;Nancy Kleckner

  • Crossover/noncrossover differentiation, synaptonemal complex formation, and regulatory surveillance at the leptotene/zygotene transition of meiosis.

    G.Valentin Börner;Nancy Kleckner;Neil Hunter;Neil Hunter

  • The Single-End Invasion: An Asymmetric Intermediate at the Double-Strand Break to Double-Holliday Junction Transition of Meiotic Recombination

    Neil Hunter;Nancy Kleckner

  • THE LEPTOTENE-ZYGOTENE TRANSITION OF MEIOSIS

    D Zickler;N Kleckner

  • Genetic engineering in vivo using translocatable drug-resistance elements. New methods in bacterial genetics.

    Nancy Kleckner;John Roth;David Botstein

  • SeqA: A negative modulator of replication initiation in E. coli

    Min Lu;Joseph L. Campbell;Erik Boye;Nancy Kleckner

  • Identification of double holliday junctions as intermediates in meiotic recombination

    Anthony Schwacha;Nancy Kleckner

  • Interhomolog Bias during Meiotic Recombination: Meiotic Functions Promote a Highly Differentiated Interhomolog-Only Pathway

    Anthony Schwacha;Nancy Kleckner

  • New Tn10 derivatives for transposon mutagenesis and for construction of lacZ operon fusions by transposition.

    J.C. Way;M.A. Davis;D. Morisato;D.E. Roberts

  • ATR Homolog Mec1 Promotes Fork Progression, Thus Averting Breaks in Replication Slow Zones

    Rita S. Cha;Nancy Kleckner

  • E. coli oriC and the dnaA gene promoter are sequestered from dam methyltransferase following the passage of the chromosomal replication fork.

    Joseph L. Campbell;Nancy Kleckner

Frequent Co-Authors

Denise Zickler
Denise Zickler University of Paris-Saclay
Romain Koszul
Romain Koszul Université Paris Cité
David Botstein
David Botstein Princeton University
Eric Alani
Eric Alani Cornell University
Job Dekker
Job Dekker University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Timothy J. Foster
Timothy J. Foster Campden BRI (United Kingdom)
Victoria Lundblad
Victoria Lundblad Salk Institute for Biological Studies
John W. Hutchinson
John W. Hutchinson Harvard University
Scott Keeney
Scott Keeney Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Kirsten Skarstad
Kirsten Skarstad Oslo University Hospital

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