Laurence H. Kedes

Kedes was born in Hartford, Connecticut to Rosalyn and Samuel Kedes along with his younger sister, Judith Kedes (1941–2016).{{cn|date=September 2024}} Kedes attended Weaver High School{{cite web|url=http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-weaver-project-0401-20160331-story.html |title=Hartford Budget Woes Won't Halt Weaver High School Renovation - Courant Community |website=Courant.com |date=2016-03-31 |accessdate=2016-11-23}} in Hartford, Connecticut, and then earned his BSc in biology from Stanford University in 1961 after completing 3 years (1957-1959) of undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University; a university that later recognized him as a Distinguished Alumnus, awarding him an honorary bachelor's of arts degree (2009).{{cite web|url=http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2009/05/24/a-pictorial-glance-of-wesleyans-177th-commencement/eve_ruc_09-3911/ |title=r. David J. Sencer '46 and Dr. Laurence H. Kedes '59 each received an honorary Bachelor of Arts degree. | News @ Wesleyan |website=Newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu |date=2009-05-24 |accessdate=2016-11-23}} Kedes married Shirley Beck in 1958, and they had three children, Dean Kedes (born 1960), Maureen (born 1962), and Todd (born 1966). Kedes earned his medical degree from Stanford University Medical School (1958-1962) and then completed his internship and junior year of residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh (1962–1964). He then completed two years of research at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Biology Branch,{{cite web |url=https://ccr.cancer.gov/Laboratory-of-Biochemistry-and-Molecular-Biology |title=Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Center for Cancer Research |website=ccr.cancer.gov |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905181408/https://ccr.cancer.gov/Laboratory-of-Biochemistry-and-Molecular-Biology |archive-date=5 September 2015 |url-status=dead}} within the National Cancer Institute (1964–1966). Following a senior residency year at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Kedes joined the laboratory of Paul R. Gross at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completing his postdoctoral research fellowship.{{cite journal|title=Identification in cleaving embryos of three RNA species serving as templates for the synthesis of nuclear proteins. |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=5809508 | volume=223 |issue=5213 |journal=Nature |pages=1335–9 | last1 = Kedes | first1 = LH | last2 = Gross | first2 = PR|doi=10.1038/2231335a0 |s2cid=4270969 }}{{cite journal|title=Synthesis and function of messenger RNA during early embryonic development. |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=4979625 | volume=42 |issue=3 |journal=J Mol Biol |pages=559–75 | last1 = Kedes | first1 = LH | last2 = Gross | first2 = PR | doi = 10.1016/0022-2836(69)90243-5}} Supported by a Leukemia Society award, he then worked for one year (1969–1970) in Europe with embryologist Alberto Monroy, and molecular biologist Max Birnstiel.{{cite journal|title=Reiteration and clustering of DNA sequences complementary to histone messenger RNA. |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=5279989 | volume=230 |issue=14 |journal=Nat New Biol |pages=165–9 | last1 = Kedes | first1 = LH | last2 = Birnstiel | first2 = ML|doi=10.1038/newbio230165a0 }}

Kedes was recruited by Stanford University (1970–1989), where he was promoted to the rank of full professor and became the institution's first investigator supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1974–1982).{{cite web|url=http://www.hhmi.org/scientists/browse-alumni?kw=stanford&sort_by=field_scientist_last_name_1 |title=Alumni | Howard Hughes Medical Institute |website=HHMI.org |date= |accessdate=2016-11-23}} While at Stanford he founded IntelliGenetics (later IntelliCorp), holding the positions of Senior Scientist and Chairmen (1980–1987), the first company focused on designing and applying computer programs, expert systems, and artificial intelligence for the analysis of DNA sequences.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

In 1989, Kedes moved to University of Southern California (USC) where he conceptualized, obtained extramural funding for, and oversaw the design and building of the Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM).{{cite web |date=2014-06-20 |title=History | Institute for Genetic Medicine (IGM) |url=http://keck.usc.edu/institute-genetic-medicine/about-igm/history/ |accessdate=2016-11-23 |website=Keck.usc.edu}} The institute followed a collaborative model and Kedes recruited 20 faculty to the IGM during his tenure as its founding director. He also served as Scientific Director and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Archon X PRIZE in Genomics (2005–2013) and was the Weston Visiting Professor at the Weitzmann Institute (2009).{{cite web|url=https://www.weizmann.ac.il/acadaff/visiting-scientists/visiting-professors-program |title=Visiting Professors Program | Academic Affairs Office |website=Weizmann.ac.il |date= 7 September 2015|accessdate=2016-11-23}}

Following his retirement from USC, Kedes served as Interim Director of Medical Genetics at Cedars Sinai Medical Center (2012–2014).

Kedes authored over 220 papers, reviews, and book chapters. His published work has over 23,000 citations with two papers receiving over 1000 citations each and over 45 receiving over 100 citations each, as of 2016.{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=je4JwIgAAAAJ&hl=en |title=Larry Kedes - Google Scholar Citations |website=Scholar.google.com |date= |accessdate=2016-11-23}}

• John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
• Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation[https://www.the-asci.org/controllers/asci/AsciProfileController.php?pid=150618] {{dead link|date=November 2016}}
• Provosts Gold Medal from the University of Messina (Italy)
• Henry N. Neufeld Memorial Award (Israel)
• University of Southern California Distinguished Faculty Service Award (2004)
• Scientific Director of the X PRIZE Foundation{{cite web|url=http://genomics.xprize.org/about/scientific-advisory-board |title=Scientific Advisory Board | Archon Genomics XPRIZE |website=Genomics.xprize.org |date= |accessdate=2016-11-23}}

Kedes' research focus was skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle molecular genetics [needs citation]. Kedes' research contributions include the first isolation of a protein-coding gene from an animal cell and the determination of the DNA sequence of a protein-coding animal gene.{{cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v255/n5509/abs/255533a0.html |title=Isolation of histone genes from unfractionated sea urchin DNA by subculture cloning in E. coli |date=1975-06-12 |accessdate=2016-11-23 |volume=255 |issue=5509 |doi=10.1038/255533a0 |journal=Nature |pages=533–538|last1=Kedes |first1=Laurence H. |last2=Chang |first2=Annie C. Y. |last3=Houseman |first3=David |last4=Cohen |first4=Stanley N. |pmid=1095932 |bibcode=1975Natur.255..533K |s2cid=4242819 }}{{cite web|url=https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/faculty/ernst/Ernst2011.pdf |title=Review : Offerings from an Urchin |website=Ase.tufts/edu |accessdate=2016-11-23}} Initially, his research focused on the chromosomal arrangement, sequences, and regulation of the multi-gene family encoding histone proteins, which later played a role in controlling overall gene expression. In a subsequent phase, he investigated the regulation of actin genes, identifying evolutionary conserved elements within non-coding regions of mRNA 3' ends.{{cite journal|title=Messenger RNAs for individual histone proteins: fingerprint analysis and in vitro translation. |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=4524784 | volume=38 |journal=Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol |pages=717–24 | last1 = Grunstein | first1 = M | last2 = Levy | first2 = S | last3 = Schedl | first3 = P | last4 = Kedes | first4 = L|doi=10.1101/SQB.1974.038.01.077 }} Kedes predicted that these regions were likely targets of post-transcriptional regulation, a prediction that proved correct (see histone code). {{cite journal|title=Evolution of the human sarcomeric-actin genes: evidence for units of selection within the 3' untranslated regions of the mRNAs. |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=6439877 | volume=20 |issue=3–4 |journal=J Mol Evol |pages=202–14 | last1 = Gunning | first1 = P | last2 = Mohun | first2 = T | last3 = Ng | first3 = SY | last4 = Ponte | first4 = P | last5 = Kedes | first5 = L | doi=10.1007/bf02104727|s2cid=2641717 }}{{cite journal|title=Human actin genes are single copy for alpha-skeletal and alpha-cardiac actin but multicopy for beta- and gamma-cytoskeletal genes: 3' untranslated ... |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=6646124 | pmc=370040 |volume=3 |issue=10 |journal=Mol. Cell. Biol. |pages=1783–91 | last1 = Ponte | first1 = P | last2 = Gunning | first2 = P | last3 = Blau | first3 = H | last4 = Kedes | first4 = L | doi=10.1128/MCB.3.10.1783}} (See, for example, microRNA, AU-rich element, three prime untranslated region).

In the third phase of his research, Kedes turned his attention to muscle gene expression, myocyte differentiation, and transdifferentiation, including early forays into cardiac gene therapy.{{cite journal|title=Survival and development of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes transplanted into adult myocardium. |doi=10.1006/jmcc.2001.1491 |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=11851351 |volume=34 |issue=2 |journal=J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. |pages=107–16 | last1 = Müller-Ehmsen | first1 = J | last2 = Whittaker | first2 = P | last3 = Kloner | first3 = RA |display-authors=etal }} He was also a developer of the first federally funded digital web-based database for storing and analyzing DNA sequences,{{cite journal|title=BIONET: national computer resource for molecular biology. |date=2016-11-15 |pmid=3945548 | pmc=339350 |volume=14 |journal=Nucleic Acids Res |pages=17–20 | last1 = Smith | first1 = DH | last2 = Brutlag | first2 = D | last3 = Friedland | first3 = P | last4 = Kedes | first4 = LH |issue=1 | doi=10.1093/nar/14.1.17}}{{cite web|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/BBARMK.pdf |title=Letter from Stanford University Medical Center |date=1980-08-29 |website=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov |accessdate=2016-11-23}} laying the foundation, along with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, for the development of subsequent NIH databases, including GenBank at the NCBI. To develop systems to analyze increasingly complex sets of DNA databases, Kedes initiated collaborations with fellow Stanford University molecular biologist Douglas Brutlag and computer scientists Peter Friedland and Edward Feigenbaum and sought and obtained federal funding to establish a pre-internet era resource to share openly both the DNA sequence data and the mainframe computer aided analysis software in a program that they named Bionet.{{cite journal|url=http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/1/17.full.pdf |title=BIONET"11: national computer resource for molecular biology |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |year=1986 |doi=10.1093/nar/14.1.17 |accessdate=2016-11-23|last1=Smith |first1=Dennis H. |last2=Brutlag |first2=Douglas |last3=Friedland |first3=Peter |last4=Kedes |first4=Laurence H. |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=17–20 |pmid=3945548 |pmc=339350 }}{{dead link|date=May 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Together, the four faculty formed Intelligenetics,{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/intellicorp-inc-history/ |title=History of IntelliCorp, Inc. – FundingUniverse |website=Fundinguniverse.com |date= |accessdate=2016-11-23}} which was the first entity that managed Bionet.

On January 6, 2021, Kedes died at age 83, following a period of declining health.{{Cite web |title=Laurence "Larry" Kedes, Molecular Geneticist, Dies at 83 |url=https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/laurence-larry-kedes-molecular-geneticist-dies-at-83-68709 |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=The Scientist Magazine® |language=en}}

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Category:1937 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators

Category:American molecular biologists

Category:Keck School of Medicine of USC faculty

Category:Stanford University alumni

Category:Stanford University faculty

Category:American geneticists