Deborah Mowshowitz

Deborah Mowshowitz
Dr Mowshowitz giving a lecture on metabolism
Alma mater	Brandeis University Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Children	Zvi Mowshowitz and Avi Mowshowitz
Awards	Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award
Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry
Institutions	Columbia University
Doctoral advisor	James E. Darnell

Deborah Mowshowitz (née Bernhardt) is an American biochemist and Professor of Biology at Columbia University. Mowshowitz was trained in pure biochemistry and has done research in RNA processing. Her more recent work has focused on pedagogy and biology education. She is especially known for employing problems of historical significance, including many Nobel-Prize winning problems, in her introductory courses and in 1999 received the Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award. Her son Zvi Mowshowitz is a professional Magic: The Gathering player and former Team World Champion.

Mowshowitz was awarded a BA from Brandeis University and entered the Sue Golding Graduate Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. At Albert Einstein, Mowshowitz studied biochemistry under James E. Darnell and received her PhD in 1969 for a thesis entitled "tRNA synthesis in HeLa cells".

Mowshowitz was Darnell's first graduate student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. As Darnell's student, Mowshowitz worked on RNA processing; up until that point, it had been thought that preprocessing was limited to pre-rRNA, but Mowshowitz demonstrated the existence of pre-tRNAs as well. Mowshowitz used gel electrophoresis to separate smaller, slower-migrating pre-tRNA candidate particles which had been labeled with radioactive uridine. She observed the pre-tRNAs under methionine-starvation conditions and proposed that the pre-tRNAs were longer than tRNAs proper. Early work by Mowshowitz focused on pure biochemistry, in areas such as enzyme assays and biosynthesis in yeast. She has also published in the Journal of Virology and in Analytical Biochemistry.