Vernon Ingram

Infobox_Scientist
name = Vernon M. Ingram
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1924|5|19|df=y
birth_place = Breslau, Germany
death_date = death date and age|2006|8|17|1924|5|19|df=y
death_place = Boston, Massachusetts
residence = Germany, United Kingdom, United States
nationality = German
field = Biologist
work_institution = MIT
alma_mater = University of London
doctoral_advisor = Fred Barrow
doctoral_students =
known_for =
societies = National Academy of Sciences
prizes =
spouse = Elizabeth Ingram
children = Peter, Jennifer
religion =
footnotes =

Vernon M. Ingram FRS (19 May 1924 — 17 August 2006) was a German American professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Biography

Ingram was born in Breslau, Lower Silesia. When he was 14, he and his family left Nazi Germany because of their opposition to Nazism and settled in England.

During the Second World War, Ingram worked at a chemical factory producing drugs for the war effort and at night studied at Birkbeck College at the University of London. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1945 and a PhD in organic chemistry in 1949.

After receiving his doctorate, Ingram worked at postdoctoral appointments at the Rockefeller Institute and Yale University. At Rockefeller, he worked with Moses Kunitz on crystallizing proteins. While at Yale, he studied peptide chemistry with Joseph Fruton. In 1952, Ingram returned to England and started working at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, studying protein chemistry.

In 1956, Ingram and John A. Hunt determined that the change in the hemoglobin molecule in sickle cell disease and trait was the substitution of the glutamic acid in position 6 of the β-chain of the normal protein by valine. Ingram used electrophoresis and chromatography to show that the amino acids of normal human and sickle cell anemia hemoglobins differed due to a single mutated gene. Much of this work was done with the support of Max Perutz and Francis Crick. Ingram won the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics in 1967.

This was the first time a researcher demonstrated that a single amino acid exchange in a protein can cause a disease or disorder. As a result, Vernon Ingram is sometimes referred to as "The father of Molecular Medicine." [cite web
title=2002 National Academy Fellows
url=http://genomebiology.com/researchnews/default.asp?arx_id=gb-spotlight-20020502-01
date=2002-05-02
accessdate=2006-10-25
publisher=Genome Biology]

Ingram joined the MIT faculty in 1958, intending to stay for only one year. He found that he enjoyed it there so much that he stayed on. While at MIT, Ingram collaborated with Paul Marks of Columbia University on hemoglobin research. He was also interested in embryonic hemoglobin and how it differed from that of adults.

By the 1980s, Ingram became interested in neuroscience and especially Alzheimer's Disease. His interest was sparked by the work his second wife, Elizabeth (Beth), was doing with mentally retarded people in the Boston area. She had heard that Down's Syndrome was a disease of the neurofilaments; this turned out not to be the cause, but it was noted that people with Down's Syndrome did develop Alzheimer's Disease by the time they were 40.

After retirement, Ingram continued his research, maintaining a small laboratory at MIT. He and his wife, Beth, were housemasters of Ashdown House at MIT for 16 years. Asteroid 6285 Ingram is named in their honor. [cite web
title=Surprise! High-flying Tribute for Ingrams
url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/ingram-0717.html
date=2002-07-17
accessdate=2006-10-25
author=Darren J. Clarke
publisher=MIT News Office] He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2002. [cite web
title=Three Faculty Named to NAS
url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/nas-0515.html
date=2002-05-15
accessdate=2006-10-25
publisher=MIT News Office]

Ingram died in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 17, 2006 of injuries stemming from a fall.

elected publications

* cite journal
title=A Specific Chemical Difference between Globins of Normal and Sickle-cell Anemia Hemoglobins
last=Ingram
first=V.M.
journal=Nature
volume=178
pages=792–794
year=1956
doi=10.1038/178792a0

* cite journal
title=Gene Mutations in Human Hemoglobin: The Chemical Difference between Normal and Sickle Hemoglobin
last=Ingram,
first=V.M.
journal=Nature
volume=180
pages=326–328
year=1957
doi=10.1038/180326a0

* cite journal
title=Abnormal Human Haemoglobins. II. The Chymotryptic Digestion of the Trypsin-resistant Core of Haemoglobins A and S.
last=Hunt
first=J.A.
coauthors=V.M. Ingram
journal=Biochimica et Biophysica Acta
volume=28
issue=3
pages=46–549
year=1958
doi=10.1016/0006-3002(58)90517-1

* cite journal
title=Gene Evolution and the Hæmoglobins
last=Ingram
first=V.M.
journal=Nature
volume=189
date=1961-03-04
pages=704–708
doi=10.1038/189704a0

* cite journal
first=R.M.
last=Winslow
coauthors=V.M. Ingram
title=Peptide Chain Synthesis of Human Hemoglobins A and A₂
url=http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/241/5/1144.pdf
journal=J. Biol. Chem.
volume=241
issue=5
pages=1144
date=1966-03-10|format=PDF

* cite journal
title=Sickle-Cell Anemia Hemoglobin: The Molecular Biology of the First "Molecular Disease" — The Crucial Importance of Serendipity
first=Vernon M.
last=Ingram
journal=Genetics
volume=167
issue=1
pages=1
year=2004
url=http://www.genetics.org/cgi/reprint/167/1/1.pdf
doi=10.1534/genetics.167.1.1
pmid=15166132|format=PDF

* cite book
chapter=Novel Compounds eliminate the Neurotoxicity of the Alzheimer Aβ Peptide
last=Blanchard
first=B.J.
coauthors=A. Chen, C. Kelly, K. Stafford, B. Stockwell & V.M. Ingram
title=Abstr. Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Annual meeting
year=2004

* cite book
chapter=Blocking the Initial Molecular Mechanism of Alzheimer’s Disease
last=Ingram
first=V.M.
coauthors=B.J. Blanchard, A. Chen, C. Kelly, K. Stafford & B. Stockwell
title=Abstr. International Congress on Alzheimer’s Disease, Philadelphia
year=2004

* cite journal
title=Sickle Cell Anemia hemoglobin: The Molecular Biology of the First ‘Molecular Disease’
last=Ingram
first=V.M.
journal=Genetics
volume=167
pages=1–7
year=2004
doi=10.1534/genetics.167.1.1
pmid=15166132

* cite book
chapter=The Role of Alzheimer Aβ Peptides in Ion Transport across Cell Membranes, in Subcellular Biochemistry: Alzheimer’s Disease
last=Ingram
first=V.M.
title=Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Amyloid
editor=eds. Harris, R., Fahrenholz, F.
publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
location=London
year=2004

* cite journal
title=Development of a Human Variable Light Chain Domain Intracellular Antibody against Huntingtin via Yeast Surface Display
last=Colby
first=D.W.
coauthors=P. Garg, G. Chao, J. Webster, A. Messer, V.M. Ingram and K.D. Wittrup
journal=J. Mol. Biol.
date= 17 September 2004
volume=342
issue=3
pages=901–12
doi=10.1016/j.jmb.2004.07.054

* cite journal
title=Enhanced anti-Huntington’s Disease Intrabodies
last=Webster
first=J.M.
coauthors=D.W. Colby, V.M. Ingram, K.D. Wittrup and A. Messer
journal=Abstract Soc. Neurosci.
month=November | year=2004

* cite journal
title=Efficient Reversal of Alzheimer Fibril Formation and Elimination of Neurotoxicity by a Small Molecule
last=Blanchard
first=B.J.
coauthors=A. Chen, K. Stafford, P. Weigele and V.M. Ingram
journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
date=5 October 2004
volume=101
issue=40
pages=14326–32
doi=10.1073/pnas.0405941101
pmid=15388848

Inaugural Article: Efficient reversal of Alzheimer's disease fibril formation and elimination of neurotoxicity by a small molecule Barbara J. Blanchard, Albert Chen, Leslie M. Rozeboom, Kate A. Stafford, Peter Weigele, and Vernon M. IngramPNAS 2004 101: 14326-14332

ee also

* MIT Biology Department

References

External links

* cite journal
first=Tinsley H.
last=Davis
url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/101/40/14323.pdf
title=Biography of Vernon M. Ingram
journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
volume=101
issue=40
pages=14323–14325
date=2004-10-05
doi=10.1073/pnas.0406677101
pmid=15454612|format=PDF

* cite web
url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/obit-ingram.html
title='Father of Molecular Medicine' Vernon Ingram Dies at 82
first=Anne
last=Trafton
publisher=MIT News Office
date=2006-08-22
accessdate=2006-10-26
Obituary of Vernon Ingram from the MIT News Office

Persondata
NAME= Ingram, Vernon M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= German biologist
DATE OF BIRTH= 19 May 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH= Breslau, Germany
DATE OF DEATH= 17 August 2006
PLACE OF DEATH= Boston, Massachusetts