Sol Spiegelman (December 14, 1914 – January 21, 1983) was an American molecular biologist. He developed the technique of nucleic acid hybridization, which helped to lay the groundwork for advances in recombinant DNA technology.

Early life and education

Spiegelman was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1914. He 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 ...

and was initially interested in biology, but found the courses uninspiring and instead chose to focus on math and physics. During his undergraduate work he took a leave of absence to work in a biology laboratory, where he studied the genetics of bacteria. He graduated in 1939 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He then began his graduate studies at Columbia University in 1940, studying

cellular physiology Cell physiology is the biological study of the activities that take place in a cell to keep it alive. The term ''physiology'' refers to normal functions in a living organism. Animal cells, plant cells and microorganism cells show similarities in th ...

under the supervision of H.B. Steinbach. Spiegelman joined Steinbach in his move to Washington University two years later, and received his PhD from that institution in 1944. His graduate work focused on what was then known as enzymatic "induction" or "adaptation", now known to reflect changes in

gene expression Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...

in response to environmental factors. He continued to work at Washington University until 1948, and then took a one-year Public Health Service fellowship at the University of Minnesota.

Academic career

In 1949, Spiegelman joined the faculty at the University of Illinois, where he would spend the next 20 years of his academic career. His research in this time focused on

nucleic acid Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main cl ...

s and particularly on the enzymes associated with nucleic acid synthesis, originating from work on

bacteriophage A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a ''phage'' (), is a duplodnaviria virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea. The term was derived from "bacteria" and the Greek φαγεῖν ('), meaning "to devour". Bacteri ...

with

RNA genome Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carb ...

s such as

MS2 phage Bacteriophage MS2 (''Emesvirus zinderi''), commonly called MS2, is an icosahedral, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that infects the bacterium ''Escherichia coli'' and other members of the Enterobacteriaceae. MS2 is a member of a famil ...

and bacteriophage Qβ. His work with Qβ RNA led to a noted experiment with self reproducing RNA structures called

Spiegelman's Monster Spiegelman's Monster is the name given to an RNA chain of only 218 nucleotides that is able to be reproduced by the RNA replication enzyme RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, also called RNA replicase. It is named after its creator, Sol Spiegelman, of th ...

. Among his best-known work is his research on nucleic acid hybridization, much of which was conducted in along with Kim Atwood and Ferruccio Ritossa building on work by Rich and Davies in 1956, which helped to lay the groundwork for advances in recombinant DNA technology. Spiegelman's later research focused on cancer and in 1969 he moved to the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, becoming a professor of human genetics and development as well as the directory of the Institute of Cancer Research. He was particularly interested in potential viral causes of cancer. In 1975, he was named University Professor.

Awards and honors

Spiegelman received the Lasker Award in 1974 for his 1965 work on Qβ RNA. In 1981 he received the Antonio Feltrinelli International prize in Biology for his contributions to molecular biology. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1965 American Academy of Arts and Sciences a year later.

Personal life

Spiegelman and his wife Helen had three children. He died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in 1983.

References

External links