John Howard Mueller (June 13, 1891,
Sheffield, Massachusetts
Sheffield is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,327 at the 2020 census. Sheffield is home to Berkshire School, a private prepa ...
– February 14, 1954) was an American biochemist, pathologist, and bacteriologist. He is known as the discoverer of the
amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...
methionine
Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical ro ...
in 1921, and as the co-developer, with
Jane Hinton
Jane Hinton (1919–2003) was a pioneer in the study of bacterial antibiotic resistance and one of the first two African-American women to gain the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (1949). Prior to her veterinary medicine studies at the Un ...
, of the eponymous
Mueller–Hinton agar
Mueller–Hinton agar is a microbiological growth medium that is commonly used for antibiotic susceptibility testing, specifically disk diffusion tests. It is also used to isolate and maintain ''Neisseria'' and ''Moraxella'' species.
It typi ...
.
Biography
J. Howard Mueller was the son of a Unitarian clergyman and grew up in Illinois. He studied biology at
Illinois Wesleyan University
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfor ...
with a bachelor's degree in 1912. He was then a chemistry instructor at the
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...
for two years before receiving his master's degree in 1914. He became interested in pathology and bacteriology and in 1914 attended a summer course at the Medical Faculty of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. He stayed there for further studies after receiving a scholarship and received in 1916 his doctorate Ph.D. in pathology. He then became an assistant pathologist at the
New York Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...
. In 1917 he was a volunteer at the front in France with a medical unit and was involved in empirical proof of the transmission of trench fever by lice. In 1919 he was discharged as a lieutenant and became an instructor in bacteriology under
Hans Zinsser
Hans Zinsser (November 17, 1878 – September 4, 1940) was an American physician, bacteriologist, and prolific author.
The author of over 200 books and medical articles, he was also a published poet. Some of his verses were published in '' ...
at Columbia University.
[ (The academic position to which Mueller was appointed was formerly held by J. Gardner Hopkins, who was promoted.) At Columbia, Mueller did research on the requirements for the growth of cultures of pathogenic bacteria.][ (See pages 314-321 for a bibliography of Mueller's publications.)] He wrote:
He was the first to succeed in isolating and characterizing methionine, which certain streptococci needed for their growth. In 1923 when Zinnser was appointed as the chair of the department of bacteriology and immunology 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 ...
, Mueller followed him and became an assistant professor there. However, Mueller had to interrupt his work on bacterial metabolism, including work on Rous sarcoma virus with a dispute over William Ewart Gye
William Ewart Gye FRS (born William Ewart Bullock; 11 August 1889, Breaston – 14 October 1952) was a British pathologist and cancer researcher.
Career
After a difficult financial struggle, Bullock matriculated at University College, Notti ...
's theory. In 1930 Mueller began his studies on the nutritional requirements of the diphtheria bacillus.[
His work with the diphtheria pathogen was also of practical importance for the development of vaccines against diphtheria (by optimizing the bacterial cultures). From the early 1940s, he turned to research om the tetanus pathogen. After Zinsser's death in 1940, Mueller became head of the bacteriology department at Harvard. He continued to do research. Ge arrived several hours early at his laboratory and experimented until his co-workers arrived in the morning, then gave the research to his assistant Pauline Miller so that could devoted himself to administrative work. In addition to basic research, he always aimed at medical applications to fight infectious agents.][
In 1944 when ]Oswald Avery
Oswald Theodore Avery Jr. (October 21, 1877 – February 20, 1955) was a Canadian-American physician and medical researcher. The major part of his career was spent at the Rockefeller Hospital in New York City. Avery was one of the first molecula ...
, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty
Maclyn McCarty (June 9, 1911 – January 2, 2005) was an American geneticist, a research scientist described in 2005 as "the last surviving member of a Manhattan scientific team that overturned medical dogma in the 1940's and became the first to ...
published their research on bacterial DNA, Mueller understood the meaning and importance of their results and published his viewpoint in 1945 in a review article.[
Mueller was elected a fellow of the ]American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1928 and a member of the National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
in 1945.[
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Selected publications
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* (See Harvey Society
The Harvey Society is a learned society based in New York City, Named after the British scientist William Harvey (1578–1657), its scope is "the diffusion of knowledge of the medical sciences". Since its founding in 1905, the society has sponsor ...
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller, John Howard
American biochemists
American pathologists
American bacteriologists
Illinois Wesleyan University alumni
University of Louisville alumni
Columbia University alumni
Harvard Medical School faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
1891 births
1954 deaths
People from Sheffield, Massachusetts
Scientists from Massachusetts