Philip Leather

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Philip Leder (born November 19, 1934 in Washington, DC , † February 2, 2020 in Chestnut Hill , Massachusetts ) was an American geneticist who was particularly concerned with the genetic basis of cancer .

Leder studied at Harvard University , where he received his bachelor's degree (BA) in 1956 and his master's degree from Harvard Medical School in 1960 . After further medical training at the University of Minnesota , he went to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1962 , where he worked with Marshall Nirenberg , and was at the Weizmann Institute in the mid-1960s . He then did research again at the NIH, initially in the Biochemistry Laboratory of the National Cancer Instituteand then from 1972 as Director of Molecular Genetics at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). He became a professor at Harvard in 1980, where he was founding director of the genetics department at Harvard Medical School. Leder headed the Harvard Institute of Human Genetics until 2003. There he became John Emory Andrus Professor of Genetics . He was also a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for two decades .

Leder is known for fundamental work in molecular biology and genetics, especially for the classic experiment with Marshall Nirenberg from 1964, which further substantiated the triplet structure of the genetic code and provided the rest of the code that was not done with the previous Poly-U experiment by Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei (1961) could be determined.

Together with colleagues, he developed the first recombinant DNA vector system (based on phages ) that met specified safety standards. With this, he and colleagues cloned the gene for globin and examined its gene regulation.

Leder also dealt with the genetic basis of the differences in the antibodies produced by the B cells (via systematic rearrangement of the two genes that code for the light chains of the antibodies) and the role of genetic rearrangements in the development of cancer. For example, he showed that in a malignant B-cell tumor ( Burkitt's lymphoma ) the c-myc gene, which normally plays a role in cell division, is on a different chromosome (close to an antibody gene) instead of its normal one Position is on chromosome 8 .

He built a c-myc gene, reduced by its control sequences, into mouse embryo cells and was thus able to generate transgenic mouse strains that were more susceptible to cancer. This proved that changing the control sequences of a gene could cause cancer. For this and similar mice ( Onco Mouse ), which Leder developed from the early 1980s, he obtained a patent on behalf of Harvard University. In 1988 he received with Timothy Stewart in the United States the first patent (on behalf of Harvard) on a genetically engineered animal, the concept of cancer mouse (Onco Mouse), a transgenic mouse that different by manipulating oncogenes particularly vulnerable to cancer. The patent is even broader and includes all animals except humans. In Europe, the patent was granted in 1992 after initially being rejected, but after a lengthy legal battle in 2006 it was rejected for formal reasons.

Leder also researched the interaction of oncogenes and, most recently, the metabolism of tumor cells (connection between oxygen supply and glycolysis ) with possible approaches for cancer therapy .

Leder received the Detur Award at Harvard while still a student. In 2008 he received the Robert Koch Medal and in 1987 the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research . He received the Dickson Prize in Medicine and the Richard Lounsbery Award in 1981 , the Genetics Society of America Medal in 1985 , the National Medal of Science in 1989 , the HP-Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics from the Netherlands Academy of Sciences in 1990 and the William Allan in 1997 Award . Leder was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science . He received four honorary doctorates (2010), including from Yale University . In November 2015 he received an honorary doctorate for his life's work from the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Gottesman: Remembrances: Phil Leder (1934-2020). Intramural Research Program, February 6, 2020, accessed February 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Leder, Nirenberg: RNA Codewords and Protein Synthesis, III. On the Nucleotide Sequence of a Cysteine ​​and a Leucine RNA Codeword , Biochemistry, Vol. 52, 1964, pp. 1521-1529
  3. ↑ Benno Vogel, on behalf of Greenpeace Germany, on the Onco Mouse and patents on it, 2001, pdf
  4. ↑ Laudation for the Lasker Prize
personal data
SURNAME Leather, Philip
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geneticist
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 2020
Place of death Chestnut Hill , Massachusetts