William Eaton (scientist)

William Allen Eaton
Born Pennsylvania
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania
Scientific career
Fields Biophysics
Institutions National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Doctoral advisor Robin Hochstrasser

William Eaton is a biophysicist who is a Distinguished Investigator, Section Chief of the Biophysical Chemistry Section in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics, and Chief of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the United States National Institutes of Health.[1]

Early life and education

Eaton was born and raised in Pennsylvania.[2] Like many in his family, he attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate, majoring in chemistry and graduating in 1959.[1][3] While there, he participated in a student exchange program with the Free University of Berlin. He remained at Penn for medical school but discovered during his studies that he was more interested in research, particularly after spending a summer visiting the laboratory of Sydney Brenner. He decided to pursue a Ph.D. and became one of Penn's first M.D.-Ph.D. students, working with Robin Hochstrasser on molecular spectroscopy applied to heme proteins such as cytochrome c.[3] He received his M.D. in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1967.[1] Shortly before finishing his Ph.D. research, he was drafted into the military and chose to fulfill his military obligation through the Public Health Service, where he could conduct research at the National Institutes of Health.[3]

Academic career

Eaton has spent his entire research career at the NIH after arriving as a medical officer in the Public Health Service in 1967. He joined the then-new Laboratory of Chemical Physics shortly after beginning at NIH and became its chief in 1986.[4] Eaton's early work at NIH built from his work on heme proteins, focusing mainly on hemoglobin and the abnormal aggregation states of the mutant form of the protein found in sickle-cell anemia. In the early 1990s, Eaton began to focus on theoretical and experimental studies of protein folding and has been particularly influential in the study and design of fast-folding proteins.[3]

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 3 "William A. Eaton". National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Caroulis, John (Winter 2017). "A Deep and Lasting Passion for Science". Penn Medicine News. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mossman, K. (3 June 2009). "Profile of William A. Eaton". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (23): 9135–9137. doi:10.1073/pnas.0904546106. PMC 2695067.
  4. 1 2 "William Allen Eaton". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  5. ↑ "Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  6. ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Society Awards". Biophysical Society. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  8. ↑ "Protein Society Awards". The Protein Society. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "2012 Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics Recipient". American Physical Society. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
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