Paul Theodore Englund (March 25, 1938 – January 12, 2019) was an American biochemist known for his work with parasites, and especially his research into the genetic material in the parasitic organisms that cause

African trypanosomiasis African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species ''Trypanosoma brucei''. Humans are infected by two typ ...

, more commonly called sleeping sickness.

Early life and education

Born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, to Theodore, a mechanical engineer father, and Mildred, a homemaker mother, Englund grew up alongside brother Donald, a teacher and Robert, a doctor, as well as his cousin, the artist

Joyce Reopel Joyce Reopel (1933–2019) was an American painter, draughtswoman and sculptor who worked in pencil, aquatint, silver- and goldpoint, and an array of old master media. A Boris Mirski Gallery veteran, from 1959–1966, she was known for her refin ...

. He went on to study chemistry at Hamilton College, graduating in 1960; he then earned his doctorate in biochemistry at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

, graduating in 1966. At the latter school, he studied with Nobel nominee

Lyman C. Craig Lyman C. Craig (born 1906 in Palmyra Township, Warren County, Iowa; died 1974) was a chemical researcher who worked at The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research from 1933 onward. In 1944 he published a seminal work on countercurrent distributi ...

Career

He received funding from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

for his postdoctoral fellowship at the

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

where he studied with Nobel laureate Arthur Kornberg. Englund was later recruited to join the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty, where he stayed for more than 40 years until retiring as professor emeritus. In addition to his work there, he also taught a class in the biology of parasitism at the famed Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and held a position as a visiting scientist at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases in Kenya. In 2012, Englund was elected to 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 2016, an anonymous donor established the Paul and Christine Englund Professorship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Englunds' honor. A prolific researcher, Englund published more than 190 scholarly articles, and his work has been cited more than 10,000 times. He is best known for his work with

, a potentially fatal disease that infects both human and animals, which is spread by the

tse-tse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glos ...

in sub-Saharan Africa. Englund's focus was on researching the structure and function of the genetic material in

trypanosomes Trypanosomatida is a group of kinetoplastid excavates distinguished by having only a single flagellum. The name is derived from the Greek ''trypano'' (borer) and ''soma'' (body) because of the corkscrew-like motion of some trypanosomatid species. ...

, the parasites that also lend their name to the disease. As the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine explained in their obituary:

One focus of his research was GPI anchors. Composed mainly of sugars and fats, GPIs hold proteins to cell surfaces in all animals and are especially abundant in trypanosomes. In searching for the source of GPIs, he discovered a unique way that fatty acids are made in trypanosomes that is not found in other organisms. During his research career, Englund authored nearly 190 journal articles.

Personal life

Englund died of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

on January 12, 2019.

Awards and memberships

* Member of the National Academy of Sciences (elected 2012) * Member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology * Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

References

External links

Chemistry Tree: Paul T. Englund - Publications

Letter from Arthur Kornberg to Paul England — Arthur Kornberg — Profiles in SciencePaul Englund — ResearchgatePaul Englund: Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases Collaboration Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Englund, Paul 1938 births 2019 deaths Scientists from Worcester, Massachusetts Johns Hopkins University faculty Hamilton College (New York) alumni Rockefeller University alumni American biochemists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences