Mark ptashne biography

Ptashne grew up in Chicago.
He studied science (not music, alas) at Reed College and then Harvard University.
Mark Ptashne is a molecular biologist.

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Ptashne, Mark Stephen

PTASHNE, MARK STEPHEN (1940– ), U.S. biochemist. Born in Chicago, Ptashne graduated with a B.S. from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University under the direction of Matthew Meselson. He joined the faculty of biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard (1965) where he became professor (1971), chairman (1980–83), and Herschel Smith Professor from 1993. He was later a faculty member of the Molecular Biology Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. His early research concerned the relationship between a virus called phage lambda and the bacteria it infects. There are two possible outcomes to infection. The virus may multiply and destroy the infected bacteria, a process termed lysis. Alternatively, the viral genetic information may persist without destroying the bacteria, a process called "lysogeny." However the quiescent phage dna may subsequently be reactivated and lead to bacterial lysis. Ptashne identified and characterized the protein which determines the outcome of infection and he elucidated

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Mark Ptashne ’61 Eliot Awardee & Lecturer

Prof. Mark Ptashne (Memorial Sloan-Kettering) knows a thing or two about genes. You might even say he wrote the book. Two books even: A Genetic Switch (now in its 3rd edition) and Genes & Signals (written with Alexander Gann).

Mark is also this year’s receipient of the Thomas Lamb Eliot award, an award given by the college in recognition of “distinguished and sustained achievement by a Reed College graduate” (this marks two years in a row that Reed chemists have won the Eliot award), and he will be delivering a lecture on “Genetic Switches” on Thursday night, Feb. 4, in Vollum Lecture Hall.

So how did a Reed chemist become one of the world’s top experts on genes and gene regulation? I never thought you would ask…

Mark studied biology at Reed. Being a talented, as well as ambitious, student, he obtained (through the University of Oregon) an NSF summer undergraduate fellowship to conduct research at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Crested Butte, Colorado. This

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Mark Ptashne Collection

Collection

Identifier: MSP

Scope and Contents

The Mark Ptashne Collection contains two separate correspondence series. The first contains correspondence with Dr. George Klein of the Karolinska Institute, the renowned microbiologist, philosopher, and author. The second series contains correspondence with over one hundred scientists, including Nobel laureates Francis Crick, Sydney Brenner, and Walter Gilbert. This series also contains clippings, photographs, essays, and reports.

The Ptashne-Klein materials cover a wide range of subjects, including philosophical discussions of Nietzsche, human relationships, art, music, science, books, the Holocaust and their shared Jewish roots. Within this collection, Klein also shared with Ptashne correspondence with American neuroscientist and writer Charles M. Fair, David Baltimore, Robert Gallo, Kary Mullis, Benno Muller Hill, and Robin Weis. Subjects of this correspondence include discussions of scientific ethics, research, HIV/AIDs, and the Daniel Carleton Gajdusek contro