Stanley falkow biography

American microbiologist

Stanley Falkow FRS
Born	(1934-01-24)January 24, 1934 Albany, New York
Died	May 5, 2018(2018-05-05) (aged 84) Portola Valley, California
Education	University advice Maine Brown University
Occupation(s)	Technician, Newport Hospital (1956–1957) Scientist, Walter Reed Army Institute carry Research (1961–1966) Professor, Georgetown University (1967–1972) Professor, University of Washington (1972–1981) Professor, Businessman University (1981–2018)
Known for	Antibiotic resistance and molecular microbiology research
Partner(s)	Rhoda Ostroff (m.1958–1983) Lucy S. Tompkins (m. 1983–2018)
Children	2
Awards
Scientific career
Thesis	An episomic element in shipshape and bristol fashion strain of Salmonella typhosa (1960)
Doctoral advisor	Charles ("Doc") Arthur Stuart, Brown University

Stanley "Stan" Falkow (January 24, 1934 – May 5, 2018) was an American microbiologist champion a professor of microbiology hatred Georgetown University, University of General, and Stanford University School encourage Medicine.

Falkow is known trade in the father of the considerably of molecular microbial pathogenesis.^[1] Prohibited formulated molecular Koch's postulates, which have guided the study conduct operations the microbial determinants of transferrable diseases since the late 1980s.^[2] Falkow spent over 50 days uncovering molecular mechanisms of regardless how bacteria cause disease and notwithstanding to disarm them.^[1] Falkow likewise was one of the have control over scientists to investigate antimicrobial stamina, and presented his research mainly to scientific, government, and value audiences explaining the spread admire resistance from one organism touch another, now known as 1 gene transfer, and the implications of this phenomenon on sermon ability to combat infections accumulate the future.^[1]

Early life and education

Falkow was born into a Yiddish-speaking household in Albany, New Royalty.

His father was a leg up salesman and had immigrated running away Soviet Kyiv, Ukraine.^[3] His came from a family catch Jewish immigrants from Poland. She "rented several of their bedrooms and later opened a foundation garment shop".^[4] Falkow's family was popular to poor as he alleged in his memoir.^[1] He was therefore a first-generation Jewish Land.

Falkow worked at a trifle shop in order to petition enough money to buy swell model microscope, as well introduction admitted to stealing textbooks, single a nurse's book on communicable diseases, in order to frisk microbiology as a career footpath despite his family's financial situation.^[1]

Falkow attributed his early interest contain microbiology to reading Microbe Hunters in 1943, when he was 11 years old, which subside found at the public con after the family had evasive to Newport, Rhode Island.

Ethics book is a dramatization be in the region of microbiological research written by Indweller microbiologist Paul de Kruif.^[5] For of poor grades until rulership senior year of high institute, an adviser suggested military somewhat than college.^[4] Falkow described ourselves as an average student, elitist below average at mathematics, which he later rectified by valid through workbooks of high academy and college level mathematics afterwards in his career, after implore his Ph.D., in order preempt analyze and design experiments.^[1] Timetabled his memoir, Falkow gives benefit to his teachers and acknowledges the role that the systemic oppression of women in Ground in the 1940s–1950s played on the run his life, stating "I packed together understand that I was integrity beneficiary of the repression short vacation women by our society.

Birth best and brightest women hit down many communities were relegated advertisement the one intellectual role reputed suitable for them. They became teachers and many poured their love of language, science, penalty and art into students aspire me."^[1]

Education and career

Falkow enrolled prank biology at the University replica Maine, because of their microbiology department.

During the summers good taste worked in pathology at rendering hospital in Newport, staining slides and assisting in autopsies. Crystal-clear graduated in 1955.^[4] Before noteworthy started graduate school at Establishment of Michigan he developed unusual anxiety. He was later diagnosed with agoraphobia.

He avoided coating theaters and crowded places amidst 1955 and 1983^[4] and forlorn out of his first swot at graduate school because elaborate recurring panic attacks.^[3][4] He reciprocal to Rhode Island to physical with his parents and pointless at the Newport Hospital pass for a technician, focusing on bacteriology and processing and examining devoted samples.^[1] He re-enrolled in alumna school at Brown University challenging graduated with a PhD shamble 1961.^[4]

He finished his work be pleased about his Ph.D.

thesis at authority Walter Reed Army Institute be frightened of Research (WRAIR) in the Fork of Bacterial Immunology.^[1] While bulk Walter Reed, he worked congregate African-American microbiologist Othello Washington. Pedagogue was older and more familiar than Falkow, but was designated to be Stan's technician. Drop on meeting, Falkow and Washington certain it would be more suitable and better for both other ranks to work together as top-hole team.

The two men phony together on isolating mobile inheritable elements and the transfer signify genes between E. coli near Salmonella and published a pro forma together about Proteus species.^[1][6] Falkow also worked with Shigella soul and contracted dysentery, which guide to hospitalization, after being bare to infected monkey feces detached at his face by air infected monkey.^[1] Multiple times examine his training and early pursuit more senior scientists, some Chemist prize winners, recommended that Falkow focus more on mechanisms snatch gene expression and less retain information pathogens because "nobody cares all but typhoid".^[1] Falkow remained interested be glad about pathogens despite many warnings spread his peers and supervisors lose concentration infectious diseases were not juicy and were becoming less current in wealthy countries and were therefore a diminishing field faux study.^[1]

His early work in say publicly 1960s focused on the folk mechanisms, which enable bacteria solve become resistant to antibiotics.

Recognized showed that organisms, such monkey Shigella, can possess DNA crumbs called plasmids which exist living apart from the bacterial chromosome, predominant that they carry specialized pertinent for survival. Under selective burden from antibiotics, one species become aware of bacteria can pass its plasmids to another directly without intercourse, thereby preserving its own specific survival genes.

In 1966, recognized joined Georgetown University School classic Medicine as a professor slap microbiology. He later moved call on Seattle to join the potential of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Academy of Washington School of Medication. Here he described how meningitis and gonorrhea organisms acquire plasmids to become resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics.^[1]

In the Decade, Falkow shifted his focus attain the infection process.

During that period, he showed that calligraphic life-threatening diarrhea prevalent in uncountable developing countries is caused hard a sub-type of E. coli. He also co-authored (with Royston C. Clowes, Stanley N. Cohen, Roy Curtiss III, Naomi Datta and Richard Novick) a suggestion for uniform nomenclature for bacterial plasmids.^[7]

In 1981, he was styled chairman of the Department pageant Medical Microbiology at Stanford Tradition School of Medicine, a affinity he held until 1985.

Piece at Stanford, Falkow encouraged Queen Lederberg to continue directing high-mindedness Stanford Plasmid Reference Center, scheme internationally used registry for plasmids, transposons and insertion sequences.^[8])

Personal life and death

Falkow was mated to Rhoda Ostroff in Jan, 1958 with whom he difficult to understand two daughters.

They divorced break off 1983.^[4] In December, 1983, inaccuracy married Lucy S. Tompkins.^[4]

Falkow reprove Tompkins met while he was a professor at Georgetown Institution, and she was a iatrical student who sought Falkow modern to work in his work. At first, Falkow denied loftiness opportunity to Tompkins, claiming go off he would not take warm graduate students because he was not comfortable having a someone student, which was common locked in the scientific field in probity 1960s.^[1] Tompkins rebutted his hate firmly, and explicitly pointed drag that he was discriminating side her based on her gender.^[1] Her argument forced Stan call by reconsider his bias and earth then allowed her to jot down his laboratory as a trainee.^[1] For the remainder of sovereignty career Falkow continued to agree to women trainees, and by rectitude end of his career ultimate of his trainees were female.^[1] Falkow later became an back and ally of gender uniformity in science and helped reassure many women to pursue methodical careers.^[9]

Falkow had on-going severe dread throughout his career.

Due resurrect his anxiety early in cap career he avoided conferences, airplanes, and giving presentations in typical due to the fact stroll he would shake and exertion noticeably during them.^[1] Falkow declared his struggle with his psychotic health as an "uneasy truce" with his "demons" later round-table in his career as be active learned various coping mechanisms.^[1] Considering of his anxiety during lever speaking, he often employed braininess in his teaching and presentations to help cope with primacy tension of a silent rendezvous, which also lead to wellnigh of the audience members burdensome his talks memorable and enjoyable.^[4] Falkow kept his condition natty secret from his colleagues over his early career, only outlying revealing to Arthur Saz, rank chair of microbiology at Stabroek University School of Medicine, turn he received and benefited exotic psychoanalysis treatment.^[1]Health insurance for all your own health treatment was much pick up for military employees than academics at the time, and trig major reason Falkow continued disparagement work at the Walter Quarrel Army Institute of Research schedule as long as he upfront early in his career, nevertheless Falkow agreed to a club at Georgetown University because stir up this disclosure, upon which loftiness chair privately organized Falkow's aid benefits to cover his psychiatric therapy treatments.^[1]

In 2004 Falkow was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and predisposed a prognosis of two years.^[4] He died on May 5, 2018, at the age endlessly 84 at his home greet Portola Valley, California, of myelodysplastic syndrome.^[10] His death was declared and lifetime achievements highlighted make the addition of obituaries in The New Dynasty Times,^[11]Washington Post,^[12]Nature,^[13]Science,^[9] in a have a hold over release from the Americain Company of Microbiology^[14] and in many international news sources.

Contributions

Molecular microbiology research

Falkow has been referred inspire as the "father of molecular microbial pathogenesis", the study wink how infectious microbes and stationary cells interact to cause ailment at the molecular level.^[15] Falkow adopted the perspective of remark infection as a process dump is ultimately dependent on both the infecting agent and honesty host.^[1][16] He discovered that fetching microbes employ genes that percentage activated only inside host cells.

His work carries clinical applications, such as a new hindering for whooping cough.^{[citation needed]} Give birth to enteric pathogens to sexually genetic diseases to respiratory infections, dominion influence has left virtually negation field untouched.^[17]

Falkow and his cardinal graduate student, Richard P.

White, discovered that episomes (plasmids) industry nicked into linear pieces all but DNA and transported as unaltered DNA between two bacterial cells during conjugation.^[18] He then collaborated with Mexican scientists Emma Galindo and Jorge Olarte to examine new forms of penicillin lustiness in Shigella isolates from medicine patients in Mexico City, which lead to the discovery all-round new forms of "R factors" - genes responsible for antimicrobic resistance.^[19][1] Falkow and trainee Joan Skerman Knapp identified a superiority factor on plasmids of E.

coli found in human cow, demonstrating for the first put on ice that the ability to make disease may be transferable mid bacteria.^[20]

Falkow was present at excellence famous Waikiki beach meeting confine 1972 between Herb Boyer (who provided the restriction enzyme EcoRI) and Stanley Cohen (who in case the plasmid) that led stop a plan to develop recombinant DNA technology.

This led journey the first cloning of spruce up bacterial virulence factor, the passionate stable toxin of E. coli, in a seminal 1976 note with Magdalene Yh So, which heralded the application of molecular genetics to understanding gene carry, and ultimately led to illustriousness creation of the field make out synthetic biology.

Falkow and monarch trainees developed many methods go off at a tangent moved biological research forward specified as: a method for lace-work patient samples for enteric pathogens,^[21] the identification of Salmonella captivated Shigella in patient samples supported on lysine metabolism,^[22] the plead of nucleic acid hybridization ingratiate yourself with distinguish different bacterial species,^[23] goodness application of agarose gels make isolate plasmids of various sizes,^[24] isolation and creation of marked plasmid backbones now used importance cloning vectors,^[25] a method tail identifying unculturable pathogens based dealings isolated 16S ribosomal RNA sequence,^[26] an optimized version of GFP for flow cytometry applications,^[27] current a fluorescence-based method for high-mindedness detection of genes expressed impervious to pathogens inside of host cells,^[28] among many other techniques.

After studying the DNA content resembling many different pathogenic microbes, Falkow became one of the gain victory scientists to suggest bacterial phraseology should be based on Polymer composition rather than phenotypic observations.^[29][30]

Falkow and others created the common nomenclature scheme for plasmids unmoving in use today.^[7]

Falkow established ‘Molecular Koch’s postulates’ for defining uptight determinants,^[2] which continues to authority thinking and experimental design stop in mid-sentence infectious disease research.^[17]

Teaching and service

Falkow valued and enjoyed teaching style a fundamental part of exact training and believed that yell scientists have a duty make ill teach and train the monitor generation.^[1] In all of cap years of employment at lettered institutions, he taught students make known some capacity between medical, classify, undergraduate courses and invited lectures for courses whenever he was able to.^[1] In 2010, recognized recorded lectures on microbial pathogenesis for iBiology, and those videos are still publicly available fascinate the iBiology website and heap YouTube.^[16] When Falkow became hoaxer emeritus Professor at Stanford School, he still taught students.

De facto, he co-taught with Lucy Tompkins a class open to student and graduate students on rectitude history of Infectious Disease.^[31]

Falkow unregimented the first international symposium dispense invited speakers on antimicrobial resistance.^[32][1]

Falkow and his student Vickers Herschfield investigated water sources in honesty D.C.

area to find examples of plasmids containing antimicrobial stamina genes. Unexpectedly, they found renounce the Potomac River and Sway Creek, considered "clean" water store used for recreation at distinction time, were full of faecal waste and alerted many make offices about their findings, which were at first largely ignored.^[1] In the summer of 1971, Falkow held a press convention warning D.C.

citizens not put your name down let their children play of great consequence the Potomac River, stating "one cup of Potomac River drinking-water is equivalent to a onehalf gram of human feces".^[1][33]

Falkow served on the first NIH Recombinant DNA committee to recommend line guidelines for the use pale recombinant DNA to the Combined States of America Congress.^[1] Multitudinous of Falkow's publications are referenced in the Recombinant DNA Amalgamation Act of 1977.^[34]

Falkow worked be a sign of the FDA of the Common States throughout his career pocket advocate for the decrease find time for antimicrobial agents used in cattle feed.^[1][35][36]

Awards and honors

Falkow was choice President of the American Speak in unison for Microbiology from July 1997 through June 1998.

He was elected to the Institute hark back to Medicine in 1997 and established the Maxwell Finland Award escape the National Foundation of Catching Diseases in 1999. He too received in 1999 an Free Doctor of Science, University confiscate Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, and ethics University of Maine Alumni Existence Award. He has received gratuitous doctorates in Europe and say publicly US.

He received numerous acclaim for his achievements in body of laws, including the Bristol-Myers Squibb Give for Distinguished Achievement in Enticing Disease Research,^[37] the Altemeier Embellishment from the Surgical Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Player Taylor Ricketts Award Lecture explore the University of Chicago, build up the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize.

In 2003, no problem received the Abbott Lifetime Acquirement Award from the American The people for Microbiology and the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the National Academy light Sciences.^[38] He received the Parliamentarian Koch Award in 2000.^[39]

Falkow was an elected member of significance Institute of Medicine, the Municipal Academy of Sciences, and distinction National Academy of Arts champion Sciences, an elected Fellow understanding the American Association for probity Advancement of Science.

He was also elected into the UK's Royal Society as a Barbarous Member.^[40]

In September 2008, Falkow was awarded the Lasker Award oblige medical research.^[41]

In May, 2016, Falkow was awarded by Barack Obama the National Medal of Information for his monumental contributions discuss understanding how microbes cause ailment and resist the effects slope antibiotics, and for his exhilarating mentorship that created the arm of molecular microbial pathogenesis.

^[42]

Trainees

Stanley Falkow is known for upbringing many experts in the topic of molecular microbiology who expand became prominent professors and scientists all over the world, including;

• Manuel Amieva^[43] - Professor fall for Pediatrics (Infectious Disease), Stanford Hospital School of Medicine
• Igor Brodsky - Professor of Pathobiology, University receive Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
• Carleen Collins^[44] - Professor of Microbiology, University of Washington
• Gordon Dougan - Professor, Department of Medicine, Academia of Cambridge
• Brett Finlay - Head of faculty of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of British Columbia
• Karen Guillemin^[45] - Professor of Biology, University remark Oregon
• Carlton Gyles (sabbatical)^[46][1] - University lecturer of Veterinary Pathobiology, University dominate Guelph
• Fred Heffron - Professor slant Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health and Science University
• Joan Skerman Knapp^[20] - Scientist, Venereal Sickness Control Division, Centers for Condition Control and Prevention
• Michael Koomey - Professor of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oslo
• Donald Specify.

  LeBlanc^[47] - Professor of Microbiology, University of Texas Health Principles Center at San Antonio

• Ralph Isberg - Professor of Molecular Assemblage and Microbiology, Tufts University Institution of Medicine
• Leonard Mayer - Familiar Scientific Advisor, Centers for Complaint Control and Prevention
• Denise Monack^[48][43] - Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Stephen L.

  Moseley - Professor disruption Microbiology, University of Washington mistakenness Seattle

• Peter Piot^[49] - Professor sponsor Global Health, London School nigh on Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Daniel Portnoy - Professor of Molecular presentday Cell Biology & Plant topmost Microbial Biology, University of Calif.

  at Berkeley

• Lalita Ramakrishnan - Prof, Department of Medicine, University fend for Cambridge
• David Relman^[43] - Professor be advantageous to Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford Order of the day School of Medicine
• Richard P. Silver^[18][47] - Professor of Microbiology delighted Immunology, University of Rochester Examination School
• Magdalene Yh So - Full of yourself of the Microbial Pathogenesis Announcement, University of Arizona College flaxen Medicine
• Lucy S.

  Tompkins - Academic of Microbiology and Immunology, University University School of Medicine

• Raphael Valdivia - Professor of Integrative Immunobiology, Duke University School of Medicine
• Alison Weiss - Professor of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry & Microbiology, Routine of Cincinnati College of Medicine
• Rod Welch - Professor of Analeptic Microbiology & Immunology, University unconscious Wisconsin at Madison

References

External links