Paul Zamecnik
Paul Zamecnik | |
---|---|
antisense therapeutics | |
Family | John Stepan Zamecnik (great-uncle) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Molecular biology |
Institutions | Harvard Medical School |
Paul Charles Zamecnik (November 22, 1912 – October 27, 2009) was an American scientist who played a central role in the early history of molecular biology. He was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a senior scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Zamecnik pioneered the
Throughout his career, Zamecnik earned over a dozen US patents for his therapeutic techniques. Up until his death in 2009 he maintained a lab at MGH where he studied the application of synthetic oligonucleotides (antisense hybrids) for chemotherapeutic treatment of drug resistant and XDR tuberculosis in his later years.
Early life
Paul Zamecnik was born in
He attended Dartmouth College, majored in chemistry and zoology, and received his AB degree in 1933. He then attended Harvard Medical School and received his MD degree in 1936. Between 1936 and 1939, he worked at Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital in Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland.[8]
Career
During his Lakeside Hospital internship, Zamecnik became interested in how cells regulate growth, and hence, in
He returned to Boston where he became an assistant physician at the Huntington Memorial Hospital, studying the toxic factors involved in
After retiring from Harvard Medical School, he continued his research at the
Paul Zamecnik is generally regarded as the founder of antisense therapy.[10]
Zamecnik authored or co-authored 210 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He won many distinguished awards, including the
Personal life
Zamecnik married Mary Connor in 1936 (deceased 2005), and together they had three children.
Zamecnik died on October 27, 2009, at his home in Boston. He was 96 years old.[11]
References
- PMID 13426231.
- PMID 13538965.
- ^ Zamecnik (1937). "United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011". FamilySearch.
- ^ Zamecnik (1924). "Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953". FamilySearch.
- ^ "DigiArchiv of SRA Trebon - ver. 20.03.13". digi.ceskearchivy.cz. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
- ^ "DigiArchiv of SRA Trebon - ver. 20.03.13". digi.ceskearchivy.cz. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
- ^ "DigiArchiv of SRA Trebon - ver. 20.03.13". digi.ceskearchivy.cz. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
- ^ Rheinberger, p. 38
- ^ Rheinberger, pp. 38-39
- ^ Zamecnik P.C. e.a. (1978) "Inhibition of Rous sarcoma virus replication and cell transformation by a specific oligodeoxynucleotide." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America January;75(1)pp. 280-4
- ^ Paul C. Zamecnik, Biologist Who Helped Discover an RNA Molecule, Dies at 96. New York Times. November 6, 2009. Accessed 11-09-1009.
Sources
- Hans-Jörg Rheinberger. Toward a History of Epistemic Things: Synthesizing Proteins in the Test Tube. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.