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Vernon Martin Ingram | |
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| Born | Werner Adolf Martin Immerwahr (1924-05-19)19 May 1924 |
| Died | 17 August 2006(2006-08-17) (aged 82) |
| Alma mater | University of London |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Ingram |
| Children | Peter, Jennifer |
| Awards | William Allan Award(1967) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biology |
| Institutions | MIT |
| Doctoral advisor | Fred Barrow |
Vernon Martin Ingram,FRS[1] (May 19, 1924 – August 17, 2006) was a German–American professor ofbiology at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ingram was bornWerner Adolf Martin Immerwahr inBreslau,Lower Silesia. When he was 14, he and his family leftNazi Germany because of their opposition toNazism (beingJewish) and settled in England. He then Anglicised his name to Vernon Ingram.
During theSecond World War, Ingram worked at a chemical factory producing drugs for the war effort and at night studied atBirkbeck College at theUniversity of London. He received a bachelor's degree inchemistry in 1945 and a PhD in organic chemistry in 1949.
After receiving his doctorate, Ingram worked at postdoctoral appointments at theRockefeller Institute andYale University. At Rockefeller, he worked withMoses Kunitz on crystallising proteins. While at Yale, he studied peptide chemistry withJoseph Fruton. In 1952, Ingram returned to England and started working at theCavendish Laboratory at theUniversity of Cambridge, studying protein chemistry.
In 1956, Ingram,John A. Hunt, andAntony O. W. Stretton determined that the change in thehaemoglobin molecule insickle cell disease and trait was the substitution of theglutamic acid in position 6 of the β-chain of the normal protein byvaline. Ingram usedelectrophoresis andchromatography to show that theamino acid sequence of normal human andsickle cell anaemiahaemoglobins differed due to a single substituted amino acid residue. Much of this work was done with the support ofMax Perutz andFrancis Crick. Ingram won theWilliam Allan Award from theAmerican Society of Human Genetics in 1967.
This was the first time a researcher demonstrated that a single amino acid exchange in a protein can cause a disease or disorder. As a result, Vernon Ingram is sometimes referred to as "The father of Molecular Medicine."[2]
Ingram joined theMIT faculty in 1958, intending to stay for only one year. He found that he enjoyed it there so much that he stayed on. While at MIT, Ingram collaborated withPaul Marks ofColumbia University on haemoglobin research. He was also interested in embryonic haemoglobin and how it differed from that of adults.
By the 1980s, Ingram became interested in neuroscience and especiallyAlzheimer's disease. His interest was sparked by the work his second wife, Elizabeth (Beth), was doing with intellectually disabled people in the Boston area. She had heard thatDown syndrome was a disease of the neurofilaments; this turned out not to be the cause, but it was noted that people with Down syndrome did develop Alzheimer's Disease by the time they were 40.
After retirement, Ingram continued his research, maintaining a small laboratory at MIT. He and his wife, Beth, were housemasters of Ashdown House at MIT for 16 years.Asteroid6285 Ingram is named in their honour. Ingram was Director of theExperimental Study Group, an alternative undergraduate education community at MIT, from 1989 to 1999.[3]He was elected to theNational Academy of Sciences in 2002.[4]
Ingram died inBoston, Massachusetts, on 17 August 2006 of injuries stemming from a fall.
Inaugural Article: Efficient reversal of Alzheimer's disease fibril formation and elimination ofneurotoxicity by a small molecule Barbara J. Blanchard, Albert Chen, Leslie M. Rozeboom, Kate A. Stafford, Peter Weigele, and Vernon M. IngramPNAS 2004 101: 14326-14332
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