Leonard Lerman

Leonard Solomon Lerman (June 27, 1925 – September 19, 2012) was an American scientist most noted for his work on DNA.[1]

Leonard Lerman
Born(1925-06-27)June 27, 1925
DiedSeptember 19, 2012(2012-09-19) (aged 87)
NationalityAmerican
Citizenship United States
Alma materCalifornia Institute of Technology
Known forGenetics, cell cloning, human karyotype
Scientific career
FieldsGenetics
ThesisStudies on the reaction of antibody with simple substances. The slow contraction of frog muscle. The hemodynamics of aortic occlusion. (1949)
Doctoral advisorLinus Pauling
Doctoral studentsSidney Altman

Life and career

Lerman was born and raised in Pittsburgh, the son of Freamah and Meyer Lerman, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.[1] His father was a department store buyer. Lerman began attending the Carnegie Institute of Technology before graduating from high school and received his BS in five semesters.[1] As a graduate student with Linus Pauling at the California Institute of Technology, Lerman discovered that antibodies have two binding sites. Later, perhaps his most important discovery was that certain molecules bind to DNA by intercalation.[2][3][4] This discovery has shaped much of science's understanding about how drugs and mutagens interact with DNA.

Later, during a sabbatical at the University of Cambridge, Lerman had a chance to work with later Nobel prize winners Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick.[5]

Lerman led a productive research program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and SUNY Albany, the State University of New York at Albany. Lerman's lab crew included at least one Nobel prize winner, Sidney Altman, and another, Tom Maniatis, who also became one of the leading molecular biologists of his time.

Lerman's last major effort, begun with Stuart Fischer at SUNY, was the invention of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE),[6][7][8] a technique used to separate DNA molecules. DGGE is widely used by scientists who wish to ascertain biodiversity in microbial communities.

Dr. Lerman was also a senior member of one of the first biotechnology companies, the Genetics Institute, co-founded by one of his students, Tom Maniatis.[5] Dr. Lerman was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.[5]

References
  1. Kaufman, Leslie. Leonard Lerman, a Pioneer in DNA Study, Is Dead at 87. New York Times. Sept. 29, 2012.
  2. Lerman, L. S. (1961). "Structural considerations in the interactions of deoxyribonucleic acid and acridines". Journal of Molecular Biology. 3: 18–30. doi:10.1016/s0022-2836(61)80004-1. PMID 13761054.
  3. Luzzati, V.; Masson, F.; Lerman, L. S. (1961). "Interaction of DNA and proflavine: a small-angle x-ray scattering study". J. Mol. Biol. 3 (5): 634–639. doi:10.1016/s0022-2836(61)80026-0. PMID 14467543.
  4. Lerman, L. S. (1963). "The structure of the DNA-acridine complex". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 49 (1): 94–102. Bibcode:1963PNAS...49...94L. doi:10.1073/pnas.49.1.94. PMC 300634. PMID 13929834.
  5. Leonard Lerman, former senior lecturer at MIT, dies at 87. MIT News, September 28, 2012.
  6. Fischer S. G. and Lerman L. S. "Length-independent separation of DNA restriction fragments in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis" Cell 1979, Jan;16(1), 191-200.
  7. Fischer, S. G.; Lerman, L. S. (1980). "Separation of random fragments of DNA according to properties of their sequences". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 77 (8): 4420–4424. Bibcode:1980PNAS...77.4420F. doi:10.1073/pnas.77.8.4420. PMC 349855. PMID 6254023.
  8. Fischer, S. G.; Lerman, L. S. (1983). "DNA fragments differing by single base-pair substitutions are separated in denaturing gradient gels: Correspondence with melting theory". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 80 (6): 1579–1583. Bibcode:1983PNAS...80.1579F. doi:10.1073/pnas.80.6.1579. PMC 393645. PMID 6220406.
  • To view scientific papers by Dr. Lerman, go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi. Set the search box to "pubmed" and enter "Lerman LS" in the term box (no quotes in either). This should pull up a list of 50-some scientific publications with Dr. Lerman as author, including articles with Altman and Maniatis.
  • Sidney Altman's Nobel Prize Autobiography with a description of the time he spent working with Leonard Lerman in Colorado
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