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Philip Leder | |
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| Born | (1934-11-19)November 19, 1934 |
| Died | February 2, 2020(2020-02-02) (aged 85) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (M.D., 1960)[1] |
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Philip Leder (November 19, 1934 – February 2, 2020) was an Americangeneticist.
Leder was born inWashington, D.C., and studied atHarvard University, graduating in 1956. In 1960, he graduated fromHarvard Medical School and completed his medical residency at the University of Minnesota.
Leder made several contributions in each decade of the modern genetics era from the 1960s through the 1990s. He may be best known for his early work withMarshall Nirenberg in the elucidation of thegenetic code and theNirenberg and Leder experiment. Since then, he has made several contributions in the fields ofmolecular genetics,immunology and thegenetics of cancer. His group defined thebase sequence of a complete mammalian gene (the gene forbeta globin), which enabled him to determine its organization in detail, including its associated control signals. His research into the structure of genes which carry the code for antibody molecules was of major significance. The main focus of this inquiry was the question of how the vast diversity of antibody molecules is formed by a limited number of encoded genes. Leder's work on antibody genes was later extended to research intoBurkitt's lymphoma, a tumour of antibody-producing cells, which involves theoncogenec-myc. This was crucial in understanding the origin of this type of tumor. In 1988, Leder andTimothy Stewart were granted the first patent on agenetically engineered animal. This animal, a mouse which had genes injected into its embryo to increase susceptibility to cancer, became known as the "oncomouse" and has been used in the laboratory study of cancer therapies.
In 1968, Leder headed the Biochemistry Department of the Graduate Program of the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences at theNational Institute of Health. In 1972 he was appointed director of the Laboratory for Molecular Genetics at the same institution and remained in that post until 1980, when he returned to Harvard Medical School as the founder of the newly formed Department of Genetics, occupying the John Emory Andrus Chair. He retired from this position in 2008 and died of complications fromParkinson's disease on February 2, 2020.[2]
Leder has been awarded various honors and was a member of theNational Academy of Sciences, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences and theInstitute of Medicine. His many prizes include the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement (1981),[3] theLasker Award (1987), theNational Medal of Science (1991), theHarvey Prize, and the Heineken Prize awarded by theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In November 2015 he has been awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel for his lifetime achievements.
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