Judith P. Klinman

Judith P. Klinman is a Professor of the Graduate School and Chancellor's Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, with primary affiliation in the Department of Chemistry and joint appointment in Molecular & Cell Biology. Her research group investigates fundamental mechanisms of enzyme catalysis using kinetic, spectroscopic, and biophysical approaches. Born in 1941, she holds a Ph.D. in Physical-Organic Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania (1966) and completed postdoctoral training at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Research interests center on enzymatic reaction mechanisms, with emphasis on:

• Nuclear hydrogen tunneling and protein dynamics in C-H bond cleavage
• Biogenesis and function of peptide-derived cofactors (TPQ, LTQ)
• Activation of molecular oxygen in metalloenzymes
• Evolutionary adaptation of enzymes across temperature niches

Awarded the National Medal of Science in 2014, her honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences and distinction as Chancellor's Professor. She previously served as a Research Scientist at the Institute for Cancer Research (1968-1978) before joining UC Berkeley.