Malcolm Casadaban (12 August 1949 – 13 September 2009) was associate professor of molecular genetics, cell biology and microbiology at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Casadaban died following an accidental laboratory exposure to an attenuated strain of '' Yersinia pestis'', a bacterium that causes

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

Early life and education

Casadaban was born to John and Dolores Casadaban in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. He graduated with a degree in biology from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1971. In 1976, he earned a PhD from

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 the laboratory of Jon Beckwith. He did a postdoctoral fellowship under Stanley Norman Cohen.

Career

In his postdoctoral training, Casadaban began studying

gene fusion A fusion gene is a hybrid gene formed from two previously independent genes. It can occur as a result of translocation, interstitial deletion, or chromosomal inversion. Fusion genes have been found to be prevalent in all main types of human neoplas ...

, using novel methods for this technique. Casadaban became an assistant professor at Chicago in 1980, and associate professor in 1985. He had also been associated with Thermogen, a company he formed with two of his former graduate students in 1998, to commercialize his work with thermophilic bacteria. The company expanded to an annual revenue of about $2 million, but was sold to MediChem in 2000; this company, in turn, was later purchased by DeCODE Genetics. He had 17 scientific publications cited over 100 times.

Death

Casadaban died September 13, 2009, shortly after falling ill due to infection with an attenuated strain of '' Yersinia pestis'', a bacterium that causes

. It was not known exactly how he was exposed to the bacterium he studied in his laboratory. According to a CDC report on the incident, the strain that killed Casadaban (KIM D27) had never been known to infect laboratory workers, as it was an attenuated strain that had defective genes for iron uptake. On autopsy, Casadaban was found to have undiagnosed

hereditary hemochromatosis Hereditary haemochromatosis type 1 (HFE-related Hemochromatosis) is a genetic disorder characterized by excessive intestinal absorption of dietary iron, resulting in a pathological increase in total body iron stores. Humans, like most animals, h ...

(iron overload), which likely played a role in his death.

References

1949 births 2009 deaths University of Chicago faculty Harvard Medical School alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni 21st-century deaths from plague (disease) Deaths from laboratory accidents 20th-century American biologists 21st-century American biologists {{US-scientist-stub