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Daniel Nathans

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Daniel Nathans
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(born Oct. 30, 1928, Wilmington, Del., U.S. — died Nov. 16, 1999, Baltimore, Md.) U.S. microbiologist. He received a medical degree from Washington University. Working principally at Johns Hopkins University, he used the restriction enzyme isolated from a bacterium by Hamilton O. Smith to investigate the structure of the DNA of a monkey virus (SV40), the simplest virus known to produce cancer. His construction of a genetic map of the virus was the first application of restriction enzymes to the problem of identifying the molecular basis of cancer. He shared a 1978 Nobel Prize with Smith and Werner Arber.

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Scientist: Daniel Nathans
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American molecular biologist (1928–)

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Nathans was educated at the University of Delaware and at Washington University, St. Louis, where he obtained his MD in 1954. After first working at the Presbyterian Hospital and Rockefeller University in New York he moved in 1962 to Johns Hopkins as professor of microbiology.

With the identification of the first restriction enzyme, HIND II extracted from the Hemophilus influenzae bacterium by the American biologist Hamilton Smith (1931––sp;–sp;) in 1970, it was clear to many microbiologists that at last a technique was available for the mapping of genes. Nathans immediately began working on the tumor-causing SV40 virus and by 1971 was able to show that it could be cleaved into 11 separate and specific fragments. In the following year he determined the order of such fragments, after which the way was clear for a full mapping. This also helped advance the techniques of DNA recombination.

It was for this work that Nathans shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Smith and Werner Arber.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Daniel Nathans
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Nathans, Daniel, 1928-99, American microbiologist, b. Wilmington, Del., M.D. Washington Univ., St. Louis, 1954. He became a professor at Johns Hopkins in 1962. Nathans worked with Werner Arber and Hamilton Othanel Smith in studying the nature of genes. The trio discovered and used biochemical "scalpels" called restriction enzymes that can cut genetic material into pieces for various studies and applications. The restriction enzyme technique, a fundamental tool in modern genetic research, helped create the biotechnology industry and provided the basis for the Human Genome Project. For their work they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1993, Nathans was awarded the highest scientific award of the United States, the National Medal of Science.
Wikipedia: Daniel Nathans
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Daniel Nathans
Born October 30, 1928(1928-10-30)
Wilmington, Delaware
Died November 16, 1999 (aged 71)
Nationality American
Fields Microbiology
Institutions Johns Hopkins University
Known for Restriction enzymes
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1978)
National Medal of Science (1993)

Daniel Nathans (October 30, 1928 – November 16, 1999) was an American microbiologist.

He was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the last of nine children born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. During the Great Depression his father lost his small business and was unemployed for a long period of time. Nathans went to public schools and then to the University of Delaware, where he studied chemistry, philosophy, and literature. He received his M.D. degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1954. Nathans served as President of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland from 1995 to 1996.

Along with Werner Arber and Hamilton Smith, Nathans received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for the discovery of restriction enzymes.He was also awarded with National Medal of Science in 1993.

In 1999, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine announced the creation of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine that was named in his honor posthumously along with Victor McKusick [1]. In 2005, the School of Medicine named one of its four colleges after Dr. Nathans.

References

  • Brownlee, Christen (April 2005). "Danna and Nathans: Restriction enzymes and the boon to modern molecular biology". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102 (17): 5909. doi:10.1073/pnas.0502760102. PMID 4332003. 
  • Dimaio, D (. 2001). "Daniel Nathans: October 30, 1928-November 16, 1999". Biographical memoirs. National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) 79: 262–79. PMID 11762397. 
  • Raju, T N (October 1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1978: Werner Arber (b 1929); Hamilton O Smith (b 1931); Daniel Nathans (b 1928)". Lancet 354 (9189): 1567. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)76606-X. PMID 10551539. 
  • Shampo, M A; Kyle R A (April 1996). "Daniel Nathans--geneticist and microbiologist wins Nobel prize". Mayo Clin. Proc. 71 (4): 360. PMID 8637258. 
  • Kroon, A M (February 1979). "[The Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1978 (Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton Smith)]". Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde 123 (5): 153–6. PMID 368662. 
  • Piekarowicz, A (. 1979). "[Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith. Nobel prizes for the studies on DNA restriction enzymes]". Postepy Biochem. 25 (2): 251–3. PMID 388391. 
  • Desiderio, S; Boyer S (November 1978). "Arber, Smith and Nathans: Nobel Laureates in medicine and physiology, 1978". The Johns Hopkins medical journal 143 (5): ix-x. PMID 364154. 

External links

v • d • e
Presidents of Johns Hopkins University

Daniel Coit Gilman (1875) · Ira Remsen (1901) · Frank Johnson Goodnow (1914) · Joseph Sweetman Ames (1929) · Isaiah Bowman (1935) · Detlev Bronk (1949) · Lowell Reed (1953) · Milton S. Eisenhower (1956) · Lincoln Gordon (1967) · Milton S. Eisenhower (1971) · Steven Muller (1972) · William C. Richardson (1990) · Daniel Nathans (1995) · William R. Brody (1996) · Ronald J. Daniels (2009)
v • d • e
Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine

Baruch Blumberg / Daniel Gajdusek (1976) · Roger Guillemin / Andrew Schally / Rosalyn Yalow (1977) · Werner Arber / Daniel Nathans / Hamilton O. Smith (1978) · Allan Cormack / Godfrey Hounsfield (1979) · Baruj Benacerraf / Jean Dausset / George Snell (1980) · Roger Sperry / David H. Hubel / Torsten Wiesel (1981) · Sune Bergström / Bengt I. Samuelsson / John Vane (1982) · Barbara McClintock (1983) · Niels Jerne / Georges Köhler / César Milstein (1984) · Michael Brown / Joseph L. Goldstein (1985) · Stanley Cohen / Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986) · Susumu Tonegawa (1987) · James W. Black / Gertrude B. Elion / George H. Hitchings (1988) · J. Michael Bishop / Harold E. Varmus (1989) · Joseph Murray / E. Donnall Thomas (1990) · Erwin Neher / Bert Sakmann (1991) · Edmond Fischer / Edwin G. Krebs (1992) · Richard J. Roberts / Phillip Sharp (1993) · Alfred G. Gilman / Martin Rodbell (1994) · Edward B. Lewis / Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard / Eric F. Wieschaus (1995) · Peter C. Doherty / Rolf M. Zinkernagel (1996) · Stanley B. Prusiner (1997) · Robert F. Furchgott / Louis Ignarro / Ferid Murad (1998) · Günter Blobel (1999) · Arvid Carlsson / Paul Greengard / Eric Kandel (2000)
Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present
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National Medal of Science laureates
 
Biological sciences
1960s
1970s
1970: Barbara McClintock · Albert B. Sabin 1973: Daniel I. Arnon · Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. 1974: Britton Chance · Erwin Chargaff · James V. Neel · James Augustine Hannon 1975: Hallowell Davis · Paul Gyorgy · Sterling Brown Hendricks · Orville lvin Vogel 1976: Roger C.L. Guillemin · Keith Roberts Porter · Efraim Racker · E. O. Wilson 1979: Robert H. Burris · Elizabeth C. Crosby · Arthur Kornberg · Severo Ochoa · Earl Reece Stadtman · George Ledyard Stebbins · Paul Alfred Weiss
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