American Philosophical Society
Member History

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Residency
Resident[X]
Class
2. Biological Sciences[X]
Subdivision
201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry[X]
1Name:  Dr. Paul D. Boyer
 Institution:  University of California, Los Angeles
 Year Elected:  1998
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1918
 Death Date:  June 2, 2018
   
 
Paul Delos Boyer was born July 31, 1918 in Provo, Utah. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Brigham Young University in 1939 and a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1943. He served at Stanford University with a war research project on stabilization of human serum albumin from 1943-45 and with the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, MD in 1946. From 1946-63 he was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota and from 1963 to 1999 a faculty member at the University of California, Los Angeles, becoming emeritus in 1999. In 1965 he became founding director of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute. Dr. Boyer received the American Chemical Society Award in Enzyme Chemistry in 1955 and during that year he was a Guggenheim Fellow for studies in Sweden. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1968) and the National Academy of Sciences (1970). He has received the Rose Award of the American Society of Biochemistry (1989) and honorary doctorates from the University of Stockholm (1974), the University of Minnesota (1996) and the University of Wisconsin (1998). In 1997 he shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Walker and Skou for their studies with ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Throughout nature ATP serves for the capture and use of energy. Dr. Boyer also served as editor of the 18-volume treatise "The Enzymes" (1971-90) and has published over 300 papers, mostly about enzymes. About half of these relate to the mechanism of the complex membrane-bound ATP synthase. With his associates Boyer discovered that during ATP synthesis the three catalytic sites, even though they have identical amino acid sequences, proceed sequentially through strikingly different conformations. They obtained the first evidence that this occurs by a novel rotational catalysis. The rotational movement of a multi-subunit portion in the membrane drives the rotation of a single subunit in the center of the catalytic site cluster, resulting in the sequential conformational changes necessary for the binding, formation, and release of ATP. Dr. Paul D. Boyer died June 2, 2018, at the age of 99 at home in Los Angeles, California.
 
2Name:  Dr. Thomas J. Kelly
 Institution:  Sloan-Kettering Institute
 Year Elected:  1998
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Living
 Birth Date:  1941
   
 
Thomas Kelly has been a world leader in unraveling how complex DNA viruses are replicated, thereby providing important understanding into control of the growth of animal cells. As a fellow in Hamilton Smith's laboratory, he identified the first recognition sequence of a restriction enzyme: a major and critical milestone in recombinant DNA technology. Dr. Kelly was the first to devise cell-free systems that faithfully replicated eukaryotic DNA and successfully copied the complete adenovirus genome in vitro. This led to an important technique: DNA recognition-site affinity chromatography which is widely used for the isolation of proteins that bind to specific DNA sequences. In a major advance he developed a system (and identified many of the catalytic components) for the replication of the oncogenic simian virus SV 40. Analysis of this system has revealed how DNA replication is initiated, including a tightly regulated phosphorylation which controls DNA unwinding. Dr. Kelly is deeply respected for his scientific originality and his incisive contributions to DNA replication. He currently directs the Sloan-Kettering Institute and previously built a world-class department of molecular biology and genetics during his tenure at Johns Hopkins University. He has fostered the careers of numerous young scientists and been an important spokesperson for science.
 
Election Year
1998[X]