Lois Kathryn Miller (May 2, 1945Miller's

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 ...

biographical memoir lists two birthdates – this one and May 2, 1945.November 9, 1999) was an American geneticist and academic. She was a Distinguished Research Professor of Genetics and Entomology at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. A graduate of

Upsala College Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States. Upsala was founded in ...

, she taught at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

before moving to Georgia. Miller's research was related to

baculoviruses ''Baculoviridae'' is a family of viruses. Arthropods, among the most studied being Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera, serve as natural hosts. Currently, 85 species are placed in this family, assigned to four genera. Baculoviruses are kno ...

, which infect agricultural pests. She was elected to the

and was a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Early life

Miller was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children born to Clarence and Naomi Miller; her father was a Lutheran clergyman and her mother taught Latin at a high school. Miller's family moved several times during her childhood due to her father's job, and she attended junior high and high school in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

. While completing her undergraduate education at

, Miller spent a summer doing research at the

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...

. She graduated from Upsala in 1967. and she earned a Ph.D. 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 ...

. At Wisconsin, she worked with Bob G. Wells, whose laboratory was trying to better understand

DNA polymerase A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create ...

. While in graduate school, she met Karl Espelie, who became her husband; they had a daughter in 1979.

Career

Miller joined the faculty at the

in 1976, and she moved to the

ten years later, becoming a Distinguished Research Professor of Genetics and Entomology. She focused her research on

and programmed cell death. In 1991, her team at the

discovered the anti-apoptotic properties of the baculoviral

Early 35 kDa protein The Early 35 kDa protein, or P35 in short, is a Baculovirus, baculoviral protein that inhibits apoptosis in the cells infected by the virus. Although baculoviruses infect only invertebrates in nature, ectopic expression of P35 in vertebrate anima ...

(P35). Miller was elected to membership in the

in 1987 and was made a fellow of the

in 1992.

Death

Miller, who had been treated for

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

in the mid-1980s, experienced a recurrence of the cancer in the mid-1990s. She underwent cancer treatment - including experimental immunotherapy treatments at the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

- until she entered home hospice care in early 1999. She died on November 9, 1999. After her death, Miller continued to receive recognition for her work. She won the Inventor of the Year Award from the University of Georgia in 2001.

Notes

References

External links

A. Lorena Passarelli, Janet Westpheling, Erin M. Espelie, and Karl Espelie, "Lois K. Miller", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Lois Kathryn 1945 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American biochemists American geneticists California Institute of Technology faculty Deaths from melanoma in the United States Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from Lebanon, Pennsylvania Upsala College alumni University of Georgia faculty University of Idaho faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American women entomologists 20th-century American zoologists 20th-century American women scientists