Jump to content

Martha Chase: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→External links: + gallery
Alma mater → education. Alma mater is singular: one is the maximum
 
(119 intermediate revisions by 66 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|American geneticist}}
{{about|the scientist|the doll-maker|Martha Jenks Chase}}
{{Infobox scientist
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Martha Cowls Chase
| name = Martha Chase
|image = Martha Chase.jpg
| image = Martha Chase.jpg
|image_size =
| birth_name = Martha Cowles Chase
|alt =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|11|30}}
| birth_place = [[Cleveland Heights, Ohio]], USA
⚫
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|11|30}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|08|08|1927|11|30}}
|birth_place = [[Cleveland Heights, Ohio]], USA
| death_place = [[Lorain, Ohio]], USA
| other_names = Martha C. Epstein
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|08|08|1927|11|30}}
|death_place = [[Lorain, Ohio]], USA
| fields = [[Genetics]], [[Biochemistry]], [[Molecular Biology]]
| workplaces = [[Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]], [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]], [[University of Rochester]]
|residence = United States
⚫
| education = [[College of Wooster]], [[University of Southern California]]
|citizenship = United States
| doctoral_advisor = [[Giuseppe Bertani]], [[Margaret Lieb]]
|nationality = American
⚫
| academic_advisors =
|fields = [[Genetics]]
⚫
| doctoral_students =
⚫
|workplaces =
⚫
| notable_students =
⚫
|alma_mater = [[College of Wooster]], [[University of Southern California]]
| known_for = [[Hershey–Chase experiment]]
|doctoral_advisor =
⚫
| influences =
⚫
|academic_advisors =
⚫
| influenced =
⚫
|doctoral_students =
⚫
| awards =
⚫
|notable_students =
|known_for =
|influences =
⚫
|influenced =
|awards =
}}
}}
'''Martha Cowles Chase''' (November 30, 1927 &ndash; August 8, 2003), also known as '''Martha C. Epstein''',<ref name='ts 2010-09-25'>{{cite web | url = http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20030820/03/ | title = Martha Chase dies | accessdate = 2010-09-25 | last = Dawson | first = Milly | date = 2003-08-20 | work = The Scientist}}</ref> was an American [[geneticist]] known for having in 1952, with [[Alfred Hershey]], experimentally helped to confirm that [[DNA]] rather than [[protein]] is the genetic material of life. She was greatly respected as a geneticist.
'''Martha Cowles Chase''' (November 30, 1927 &ndash; August 8, 2003), also known as '''Martha C. Epstein''',<ref name="ts 2010-09-25">{{cite web | url = https://www.the-scientist.com/news-analysis/martha-chase-dies-51198 | title = Martha Chase dies | accessdate = 2010-09-25 | last = Dawson | first = Milly | date = 2003-08-20 | work = The Scientist}}</ref> was an American [[geneticist]] who in 1952, with [[Alfred Hershey]], experimentally helped to confirm that [[DNA]] rather than [[protein]] is the genetic material of life.


==Early life and college education==
==Early life and college education==


Chase was born in 1927 in [[Cleveland, Ohio]]. In 1950 she received her [[Bachelor of Science|bachelor's degree]] from the [[College of Wooster]] and in 1964 her [[PhD]] from the [[University of Southern California]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Lavietes|first=Stuart|title=Martha Chase, 75, a Researcher Who Aided in DNA Experiment|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/13/us/martha-chase-75-a-researcher-who-aided-in-dna-experiment.html|publisher=The New York Times}}</ref>
Chase was born in 1927 in [[Cleveland, Ohio]].<ref name="ts 2010-09-25" /> Her father was a Western Reserve University Science Instructor and she grew up with her family in [[Cleveland Heights, Ohio]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Baranick|first=Alana|date=August 14, 1998|title=Martha Chase, 75, Cleveland native, worked on early DNA experiments.|work=The Plain Dealer}}</ref> After graduating from [[Cleveland Heights High School]], she received a [[Bachelor of Science|bachelor's degree]] from the [[College of Wooster]] in 1950, then worked as a research assistant before returning to school in 1959 and receiving a [[PhD]] in [[Microbiology]] from the [[University of Southern California]] in 1964.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last=Lavietes|first=Stuart|title=Martha Chase, 75, a Researcher Who Aided in DNA Experiment|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/13/us/martha-chase-75-a-researcher-who-aided-in-dna-experiment.html|work=The New York Times|date=13 August 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll18/id/368326|title=Reactivation Of Phage-P2 Damaged By Ultraviolet Light :: University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses|website=digitallibrary.usc.edu|access-date=2018-03-12}}</ref>


==Research and later life==
==Research and later life==
In [[1952 in science|1952]] Chase was a young laboratory assistant to American [[bacteriophage]] expert [[Alfred Hershey]] at [[Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]] from the [[Carnegie Institution of Washington]]. This was where the well-known [[Hershey–Chase experiment]] was performed. The experiment helped to confirm that it was DNA, and not protein, that was the genetic material through which traits were inherited. This result was contrary to prevailing scientific opinion at the time.


In 1950, Chase began working as a research assistant at [[Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]] in the laboratory of bacteriologist and geneticist [[Alfred Hershey]]. In 1952, she and Hershey performed the [[Hershey–Chase experiment]], which helped to confirm that genetic information is held and transmitted by DNA, not by protein. The experiment involved radioactively labeling either protein or nucleic acid of the [[bacteriophage]] [[Enterobacteria phage T2|T2]] (a [[virus]] that infects [[bacteria]]) and seeing which component entered ''[[Escherichia coli]]'' upon infection. They found that nucleic acids but not protein were transferred, helping resolve controversy over the composition of hereditary information. Hershey won the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for the discovery in 1969, but Chase was not included.<ref name="ts 2010-09-25" />
In 1953 Chase moved to a post at the [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] in Tennessee, and she later also worked at the [[University of Rochester]]. During the 1950s she returned to Cold Spring Harbor to take part in meetings of the [[Phage Group]] of biologists.<ref name="ts 2010-09-25" />


Chase left Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1953 and worked with Gus Doermann at [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] in Tennessee, and later at the [[University of Rochester]]. Throughout the 1950s, she returned yearly to Cold Spring Harbor to take part in meetings of the [[Phage Group]] of biologists.<ref name=":0" /> In 1959, she began doctoral studies at [[University of Southern California]] in the laboratory of Giuseppe Bertani. Bertani moved to Sweden and Chase finished her thesis with Margaret Lieb in 1964.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Illuminating life : selected papers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1903-1969|date=2000|publisher=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press|others=Witkowski, J. A. (Jan Anthony), 1947-, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.|isbn=9780879695668|location=Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.|oclc=42462623}}</ref>
⚫
She met and married fellow scientist Richard Epstein in California in the late 1950s. The marriage was brief and they divorced shortly after.<ref name='ts 2010-09-25'/> A series of personal setbacks through the 1960s ended Chase's career in science.<ref name='ts 2010-09-25' /> She spent decades suffering from a form of [[dementia]] that robbed her of short-term memory. She died of pneumonia on August 8, 2003, at the age of 75.<ref name='ts 2010-09-25' />

⚫
While in California, Chase met and married fellow scientist Richard Epstein in the late 1950s and changed her name to Martha C. Epstein. The marriage was brief and they divorced shortly after with no children.<ref name="ts 2010-09-25" /> A series of personal setbacks through the 1960s ended her career in science. She moved back to Ohio to live with family and spent the last decades of her life suffering from a form of [[dementia]] that robbed her of short-term memory. She died of [[pneumonia]] on August 8, 2003, at the age of 75.<ref name=":0" />

==Namesakes==
The family ''Chaseviridae'', a group of [[bacteriophages]] in order ''[[Caudovirales]]'', was named in honor of Martha Chase.<ref name=Adriaenssens2020>Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Mart Krupovic ''et&nbsp;al.'': [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339882046_Taxonomy_of_prokaryotic_viruses_2018-2019_update_from_the_ICTV_Bacterial_and_Archaeal_Viruses_Subcommittee Taxonomy of prokaryotic viruses: 2018-2019 update from the ICTV Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee]. In: Archives of Virology 165. 11 March 2020. Pp&nbsp;1253–1260. [[doi:10.1007/s00705-020-04577-8]]. [http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/395478/Adriaenssens2020_Article_TaxonomyOfProkaryoticViruses20_1_.pdf PDF]</ref>


==Key paper==
==Key paper==
*[http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/papers/hershey-independent.html Hershey, A. D. and Martha Chase. "Independent Functions of Viral Protein and Nucleic Acid in Growth of Bacteriophage." ''J. Gen. Physiol.'', 36 (1): 39-56. September 20, 1952.]
*[http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/coll/pauling/dna/papers/hershey-independent.html Hershey, A. D. and Martha Chase. "Independent Functions of Viral Protein and Nucleic Acid in Growth of Bacteriophage." ''J. Gen. Physiol.'', 36 (1): 39-56, September 20, 1952], at Oregon State University website


== References ==
== References ==
Line 44: Line 46:


==External links==
==External links==
* [https://www.dnalc.org/view/16407-Gallery-18-Martha-Epstein-Chase.html Gallery Martha Epstein Chase, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]
*Dawson, Milly. [http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/22403/title/Martha-Chase-dies/ ''Martha Chase Dies.''] The Scientist Magazine, August 20, 2003
* [https://www.dnalc.org/view/16407-Gallery-18-Martha-Epstein-Chase.html Gallery Martha Epstein Chase], Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
* [https://www.dnalc.org/view/16406-Gallery-18-Alfred-Hershey-and-Martha-Chase-1953.html Gallery 18: Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase, 1953, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]
* Thesis paper: [http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll18/id/368326 “Reactivation of Phage P2 Damaged by Ultraviolet Light,” 1964]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Martha}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Martha}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio]]
[[Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio]]
[[Category:American biochemists]]
[[Category:People from Cleveland Heights, Ohio]]
[[Category:American women scientists]]
[[Category:American women biochemists]]
⚫
[[Category:Women biochemists]]
[[Category:American geneticists]]
[[Category:American geneticists]]
[[Category:Women geneticists]]
[[Category:American women geneticists]]
[[Category:20th-century women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century American chemists]]

[[Category:College of Wooster alumni]]
{{US-biochemist-stub}}
[[Category:University of Southern California alumni]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
⚫
[[Category:People with dementia]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Ohio]]
[[Category:Biologists from Ohio]]

Latest revision as of 17:10, 29 December 2024

This article is about the scientist. For the doll-maker, see Martha Jenks Chase.
Martha Chase
Born
Martha Cowles Chase

(1927-11-30)November 30, 1927
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA
DiedAugust 8, 2003(2003-08-08) (aged 75)
Lorain, Ohio, USA
Other namesMartha C. Epstein
EducationCollege of Wooster, University of Southern California
Known forHershey–Chase experiment
Scientific career
FieldsGenetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
InstitutionsCold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Rochester
Doctoral advisorGiuseppe Bertani, Margaret Lieb

Martha Cowles Chase (November 30, 1927 – August 8, 2003), also known as Martha C. Epstein,[1] was an American geneticist who in 1952, with Alfred Hershey, experimentally helped to confirm that DNA rather than protein is the genetic material of life.

Early life and college education

[edit]

Chase was born in 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio.[1] Her father was a Western Reserve University Science Instructor and she grew up with her family in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.[2] After graduating from Cleveland Heights High School, she received a bachelor's degree from the College of Wooster in 1950, then worked as a research assistant before returning to school in 1959 and receiving a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Southern California in 1964.[3][4]

Research and later life

[edit]

In 1950, Chase began working as a research assistant at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the laboratory of bacteriologist and geneticist Alfred Hershey. In 1952, she and Hershey performed the Hershey–Chase experiment, which helped to confirm that genetic information is held and transmitted by DNA, not by protein. The experiment involved radioactively labeling either protein or nucleic acid of the bacteriophage T2 (a virus that infects bacteria) and seeing which component entered Escherichia coli upon infection. They found that nucleic acids but not protein were transferred, helping resolve controversy over the composition of hereditary information. Hershey won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery in 1969, but Chase was not included.[1]

Chase left Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1953 and worked with Gus Doermann at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, and later at the University of Rochester. Throughout the 1950s, she returned yearly to Cold Spring Harbor to take part in meetings of the Phage Group of biologists.[3] In 1959, she began doctoral studies at University of Southern California in the laboratory of Giuseppe Bertani. Bertani moved to Sweden and Chase finished her thesis with Margaret Lieb in 1964.[5]

While in California, Chase met and married fellow scientist Richard Epstein in the late 1950s and changed her name to Martha C. Epstein. The marriage was brief and they divorced shortly after with no children.[1] A series of personal setbacks through the 1960s ended her career in science. She moved back to Ohio to live with family and spent the last decades of her life suffering from a form of dementia that robbed her of short-term memory. She died of pneumonia on August 8, 2003, at the age of 75.[3]

Namesakes

[edit]

The family Chaseviridae, a group of bacteriophages in order Caudovirales, was named in honor of Martha Chase.[6]

Key paper

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Dawson, Milly (2003-08-20). "Martha Chase dies". The Scientist. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  2. ^ Baranick, Alana (August 14, 1998). "Martha Chase, 75, Cleveland native, worked on early DNA experiments". The Plain Dealer.
  3. ^ a b c Lavietes, Stuart (13 August 2003). "Martha Chase, 75, a Researcher Who Aided in DNA Experiment". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Reactivation Of Phage-P2 Damaged By Ultraviolet Light :: University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses". digitallibrary.usc.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  5. ^ Illuminating life : selected papers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1903-1969. Witkowski, J. A. (Jan Anthony), 1947-, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2000. ISBN 9780879695668. OCLC 42462623.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ^ Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Mart Krupovic et al.: Taxonomy of prokaryotic viruses: 2018-2019 update from the ICTV Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee. In: Archives of Virology 165. 11 March 2020. Pp 1253–1260. doi:10.1007/s00705-020-04577-8. PDF
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Martha_Chase&oldid=1266002592"