James Martin Hogle (born July 16, 1951) is an American
biophysicist
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study Biology, biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from Molecule, molecular to organismic ...
who discovered the structure of
poliovirus
A poliovirus, the causative agent of polio (also known as poliomyelitis), is a serotype of the species ''Enterovirus C'', in the family of ''Picornaviridae''. There are three poliovirus serotypes: types 1, 2, and 3.
Poliovirus is composed of an ...
in 1985. He is an
emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
Edward S. Harkness Professor at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
where he was also Chair of the Biophysics Program, as well as a faculty dean for
Dudley House and a faculty director at
Peabody Terrace
Peabody Terrace, on the north bank of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a Harvard University housing complex primarily serving graduate students, particularly married students and their families.
Designed in the Brutalist archit ...
.
Early life and education
Hogle was born in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
and grew up in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, where he lived from the age of 9. After receiving a B.A. in
biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
from the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, Hogle was accepted to both the oncology program and the biochemistry program at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
, and chose biochemistry because he was "afraid (oncology) might be too specialized."
He interviewed virologist Roland Rueckert, who was not available at the time, and did a summer rotation in the laboratory of pioneering X-ray crystallographer Muttaiya Sundaralingam, where he was "immediately hooked" on
crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wor ...
. Hogle worked on a number of projects at this lab, and developed an interest in
virology
Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...
. As a postdoctoral student working in
Stephen C. Harrison's lab at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, he worked on the structure of
turnip crinkle virus
''Turnip crinkle virus'' (TCV) is a plant pathogenic virus of the family ''Tombusviridae''. It was first isolated from turnip (''Brassica campestris'' ssp. ''rapa'').
Structure
TCV is a small (4054 nucleotides), single-stranded, positive-sense ...
and
tomato bushy stunt virus
Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) is a virus of the tombusvirus family. It was first reported in tomatoes in 1935 and primarily affects vegetable crops, though it is not generally considered an economically significant plant pathogen. Depending up ...
, and began investigating
poliovirus
A poliovirus, the causative agent of polio (also known as poliomyelitis), is a serotype of the species ''Enterovirus C'', in the family of ''Picornaviridae''. There are three poliovirus serotypes: types 1, 2, and 3.
Poliovirus is composed of an ...
structure.
Academia
At
Scripps Research Institute
Scripps Research, previously known as The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institu ...
, Hogle used a three-pronged approach to determine the poliovirus structure:
electron microscopy
An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
,
direct methods, and the
heavy atom method. In 1985, at the age of 35, he succeeded in determining the structure of poliovirus using
X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...
.
Hogle went to
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
in 1991, continuing to work on polio and its close relatives such as
herpes simplex virus
Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), also known by their taxonomical names ''Human alphaherpesvirus 1'' and '' Human alphaherpesvirus 2'', are two members of the human ''Herpesviridae'' family, a set of viruses that produce viral inf ...
as well as
echovirus
Echovirus is a polyphyletic group of viruses associated with enteric disease in humans. The name is derived from "enteric cytopathic human orphan virus". These viruses were originally not associated with disease, but many have since been identifie ...
and other
picornavirus
Picornaviruses are a group of related nonenveloped RNA viruses which infect vertebrates including fish, mammals, and birds. They are viruses that represent a large family of small, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses with a 30 nm ...
es. His lab had two major areas of focus: structural and biochemical characterization of the cell entry pathway of polio and related viruses, and structural characterization of components of the Herpes virus replication complex and nuclear egress complex.
He retired in 2019.
References
External links
The Hogle LaboratoryProfessor Hogle's page at Harvard Medical School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogle, James
American biophysicists
Harvard Medical School faculty
1951 births
Living people
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni