Douglas A. Melton

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Douglas A. Melton (born September 26, 1953 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American molecular biologist and developmental biologist .

Douglas Melton studied at the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in 1975 (Bachelor of Science), at the University of Cambridge with a BA in 1977 in the history of science and philosophy of science. He then studied molecular biology in Cambridge with a doctorate in 1980 at Trinity College and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology . He then went to Harvard University , where he was Assistant Professor in 1981 , John L. Loeb Associate Professor in 1987 and Professor of Molecular Biology and Cell Biology in 1988. From 1993 he was also a biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and from 1994 researched for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute . In 1999 he became Thomas Dudley Professor of Natural Sciences. Today he is Xander University Professor at Harvard and Co-Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Melton is a developmental biologist. In the 1980s he developed the method of in vitro transcription with viral RNA polymerases such as SP6 and T7, which is still widely used today . For this purpose, he extended pUC vectors with promoters that flank the polylinker . He used the RNAs synthesized in this way for developmental questions by injecting them into oocytes of the clawed frog Xenopus laevis , a model organism . When his son with type 1 - diabetes mellitus was diagnosed, he changed his research focus. He investigated how embryonic stem cells can become insulin- producing beta cells and in 2014 published a breakthrough in stem cells in vitro in the journal Cell . Attempts to obtain beta cells from pluripotent stem cells had been made before, but they resembled immature adult beta cells. In Melton the cells secreted insulin depending on the glucose content of the cell environment in vitro and also when implanted in mice, in which hyperglycemia improved after implantation.

In 2014 he co-founded the company Semma Therapeutics in Cambridge (Massachusetts) , which is dedicated to the development of stem cell therapy for diabetes. The clinical trial will initially be carried out in patients whose pancreas has been surgically removed after pancreatic cancer . One of the main problems is how the patient's immune defense system is outwitted when the stem cells that have matured into beta cells are implanted. The company was named after Melton's children (Sam, Emma), who both developed type 1 diabetes.

He is an honorary member of the Japanese Biochemical Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1981 he received the Max Perutz Prize and the Camille and Henry Dreyfuß Award, in 1991 the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and in 1995 the Richard Lounsbery Award from the National Academy of Sciences.

Eckhard Lammert is one of his post-doctoral students .

Fonts

  • Y. Dor, J. Brown, OI Martinez, DA Melton: Adult pancreatic beta-cells are formed by self-duplication rather than stem-cell differentiation. In: Nature. Volume 429, 2004, pp. 41-46.
  • M. Hansson, A. Tonning, U. Frandsen, A. Pedri, J. Rajagopal, MC Englund, RS Heller, J. Hakannson, J. Fleckner, HN Skold, DA Melton, H. Semb, P. Serup: Insulin release form differentiated embryonic stem cells. In: Diabetes. Volume 53, 2004, pp. 2603-2609.
  • with Felicia W. Pagliuca: How to make a functional β-cell. In: Development. Volume 140, 2013, pp. 2472-2483.
  • FW Pagliuca, JR Millman, M. Gürtler, M. Segel, A. Van Dervort, JH Ryu, QP Peterson, D. Greiner, DA Melton: Generation of functional human pancreatic β cells in vitro. In: Cell. Volume 159, 2014, pp. 428-439. PMID 25303535
  • Applied Developmental Biology: Making Human Pancreatic Beta Cells for Diabetics. In: Current Topics Development Biology. Volume 117, 2016, pp. 65-73.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PA Krieg, DA Melton: In vitro RNA synthesis with SP6 RNA polymerase. In: Methods in enzymology. Volume 155, 1987, pp. 397-415. PMID 2828872 .
  2. ↑ DA Melton, PA Krieg, MR Rebagliati, T. Maniatis, K. Zinn, MR Green: Efficient in vitro synthesis of biologically active RNA and RNA hybridization probes from plasmids containing a bacteriophage SP6 promoter. In: Nucleic acids research. Volume 12, Number 18, September 1984, pp. 7035-7056. PMID 6091052 , PMC 320141 (free full text).
  3. ↑ DA Melton: Injected anti-sense RNAs specifically block messenger RNA translation in vivo. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Volume 82, Number 1, January 1985, pp. 144-148. PMID 3855537 , PMC 396988 (free full text).
  4. ↑ Aleszu Bajak: Will embryonic stem cells ever cure anything? In: technologyreview.com. August 12, 2016, accessed November 9, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Johann Grolle: Sugar healthy. In: Der Spiegel. No. 45, 2016, p. 104.
personal data
SURNAME Melton, Douglas A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American molecular biologist and developmental biologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois