Paul Hargrave (born 1938) is an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

whose laboratory work established key features of the structure of

rhodopsin Rhodopsin, also known as visual purple, is a protein encoded by the RHO gene and a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). It is the opsin of the rod cells in the retina and a light-sensitive receptor protein that triggers visual phototransduction ...

Career

In 1970, Hargrave received a PhD from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he studied with protein chemist Finn Wold. After post-doctoral work under

William J. Dreyer William J. Dreyer, Ph.D. (1928 – April 23, 2004) was a molecular immunologist and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) professor of biology from 1963 to 2004. He completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Washington in 19 ...

at the California Institute of Technology, Hargrave joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University in 1973. In 1983, Hargrave and colleagues in his laboratory published the full amino acid sequence for

, a photoreceptor protein, after having previously published partial sequences. The sequencing of rhodopsin was later described as a "monumental step" toward understanding the structure of rhodopsin. At the time, the purification of water-insoluble peptides was a challenge, and the Hargrave lab published several discoveries about how to manage them. Hargrave came to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 1984 as a Jules and Doris Stein Research to Prevent Blindness Professor and in 1990 was named the Francis N. Bullard Professor and Eminent Scholar of Ophthalmology and Biochemistry at the University of Florida. His work continued to explore the structure of rhodopsin, including developing a topographic model. He also pursued further research into the function of rhodopsin, including its role in visual disease such as retinitis pigmentosa and

retinoblastoma Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a rare form of cancer that rapidly develops from the immature cells of a retina, the light-detecting tissue of the eye. It is the most common primary malignant intraocular cancer in children, and it is almost exclusively fo ...

. In 1985, Hargrave chaired and secured funding for the first

FASEB The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is a non-profit organization that is the principal umbrella organization of U.S. societies in the field of biological and medical research. This organization organizes academi ...

Science Research Conference on Biology and Chemistry of Vision, which has become a biennial conference.

Awards

In 2000, he received the Friedenwald Award of the

Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (abbreviated ARVO) is an American learned society dedicated to ophthalmology and other vision-related topics. As of 2019, it has almost 12,000 members from 75 different countries. It was est ...

, which honors "outstanding research in the basic or clinical sciences as applied to ophthalmology."

Selected works

*Hargrave, P. A., K. P. Hofmann, and U. B. Kaupp. ''Signal Transduction in Photoreceptor Cells: Proceedings of an International Workshop, Held at the Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Fed. Rep. of Germany, 8–11 August 1990''. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1992. *Hargrave, P. A. ''Photoreceptor Cells''. San Diego: Academic Press, 1993.

Personal life

Hargrave is a member of the 50 States Marathon Club, having completed a marathon in every state in the United States. He is the father of board game designer Elizabeth Hargrave.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargrave, Paul 1938 births Living people Southern Illinois University Carbondale faculty American biochemists