Oscar Touster (July 3, 1921 – February 27, 2015) was an American molecular biologist. He was the founder and first chair of the molecular biology department of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. He served as the president of the

Oak Ridge Associated Universities Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) is a consortium of American universities headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with offices in Arlington, Virginia, Arvada, Colorado, Belcamp, Maryland, Cincinnati, Ohio and staff at other locations acro ...

from 1976 to 1988 and chaired the board of directors from 1988 until 1991.

Biography

Touster was born in New York City and attended the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. He received a master's degree from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in 1942. Touster then went to work for Atlas Powder Company, only to leave after a year for a job at

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known dr ...

, where Touster and

H. E. Carter Herbert Edmund Carter (September 25, 1910 – March 4, 2007) was an American biochemist and educator. He grew up in central Indiana and received his bachelor's degree from DePauw University. He received a Ph.D. in 1934 in organic chemistry from th ...

focused on penicillin research. Touster earned a Ph.D. due to his collaboration with Carter and joined the faculty of Vanderbilt in 1947. At Vanderbilt, Touster researched

pentose In chemistry, a pentose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with five carbon atoms. The chemical formula of many pentoses is , and their molecular weight is 150.13 g/mol.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 ...

for his work in 1956. The next year, Touster became a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

. In 1963, Touster founded the Vanderbilt's molecular biology department. He was named a

Harvie Branscomb Bennett Harvie Branscomb (December 25, 1894 – July 23, 1998) was an American theologian and academic administrator. He served as the fourth chancellor of Vanderbilt University, a private university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1946 to 1963. P ...

Distinguished Professor in 1982. He retired from Vanderbilt in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Touster, Oscar 1921 births 2015 deaths American molecular biologists Vanderbilt University faculty City College of New York alumni Oberlin College alumni Scientists from New York City Howard Hughes Medical Investigators