Michael Rossmann

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Rossmann studied physics and mathematics at the University of London, where he received BSc and MSc degrees. He moved to Glasgow in 1953 where he taught physics in the technical college and received his Ph.D. in chemical crystallography in 1956. He attributes his initial interest in crystallography to Kathleen Lonsdale, whom he heard speak as a schoolboy.{{cite book|title=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=21|pages=447–484|year=1976}}

Rossmann began his career as a crystallographer when he became a student of J. Monteath Robertson at the University of Glasgow. The title of his thesis was "A Study of Some Organic Crystal Structures".{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann M | title = The study of virus structure and function: a personal history | journal = Physica Scripta | volume = 89 | issue = 9 | pages = 241–56 | year = 2014 | doi = 10.1088/0031-8949/89/9/098005|bibcode = 2014PhyS...89i8005R | s2cid = 3925904 }}

In 1956 he and his family moved to the University of Minnesota, where he worked for two years as a post-doctoral fellow with Professor William N. Lipscomb, Jr., publishing on the structure of

an Iresin Diester and a terpenoid,

and writing computer programs for analysing structures.

Rossmann returned to the UK and to the University of Cambridge in 1958, where he worked with Max Perutz on the structure of hemoglobin as a research associate at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

In 1964 Rossmann joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University as an associate professor. He directed the Purdue X-ray crystallography laboratory. He became full professor in 1967 and from 1978 held the chair of Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at the university. He also held a joint appointment in the department of biochemistry and adjunct positions in Cornell University's Division of Biological Sciences and in Indiana University's school of medicine.{{cite web |title= Michael Rossmann CV on Purdue University's web site | url=http://bilbo.bio.purdue.edu/~viruswww/Rossmann_home/people/resume/mr-resume.php}}

In 1970 his laboratory found the structure of dogfish lactate dehydrogenase, one of the largest early proteins to be solved.

In 1973 his group found the structure of Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and Rossmann immediately realized that the binding site for the NAD⁺ was very similar to the one in the lactate dehydrogenase.{{cite journal |last1=John (Jack) Johnson |title=Michael G. Rossmann (1930–2019): Leadership in structural biology for 60 years |journal=Protein Science |date=Jul 2019 |volume=28 |issue=9 |pages=1538–1544 |doi=10.1002/pro.3671|doi-access=free |pmc=6699092 }} This is now called the Rossmann fold. It is found in enzymes (such as dehydrogenases or kinases) that bind molecules such as ATP or NAD⁺/NADH.{{cite journal | vauthors = Rao ST, Rossmann MG | title = Comparison of super-secondary structures in proteins | journal = Journal of Molecular Biology | volume = 76 | issue = 2 | pages = 241–56 | date = May 1973 | pmid = 4737475 | doi = 10.1016/0022-2836(73)90388-4 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Hanukoglu I | title = Proteopedia: Rossmann fold: A beta-alpha-beta fold at dinucleotide binding sites | journal = Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education | volume = 43 | issue = 3 | pages = 206–9 | year = 2015 | pmid = 25704928 | doi = 10.1002/bmb.20849 | s2cid = 11857160 | doi-access = free }}

Rossmann then turned to viruses, spending a sabbatical in 1971 with Bror Strandberg in Uppsala, Sweden, working on the structure of the satellite tobacco necrosis virus. From 1972 to 1980 Rossmann and his team worked on the southern bean mosaic virus. This required developing new software and adapting existing software for Fourier transforms. It was found that this virus had a similar "jelly roll fold" to that found previously in the tomato bushy stunt virus, which at the time was a surprise.

In the early 1980s Rossmann began working on picornaviruses, and chose HRV14, one of the viruses that cause the common cold. Part of the problem was that it was very difficult at the time to produce milligram quantities of an animal virus, as needed for the X-ray crystallography. Rossmann pushed for the purchase by Purdue of a Cyber 205 supercomputer, capable of delivering hundreds of megaflops. After vectorizing the computer programs, calculations that had taken six weeks with the southern bean mosaic virus now took, for HRV14, only a fraction of a day.

In 1985, he published his team's mapping in the journal Nature.{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann MG, Arnold E, Erickson JW, Frankenberger EA, Griffith JP, Hecht HJ, Johnson JE, Kamer G, Luo M, Mosser AG | title = Structure of a human common cold virus and functional relationship to other picornaviruses | journal = Nature | volume = 317 | issue = 6033 | pages = 145–53 | year = 1985 | pmid = 2993920 | doi = 10.1038/317145a0 | bibcode = 1985Natur.317..145R | s2cid = 4288590 }} The breakthrough nature of this result was such that the National Science Foundation, which provided partial funding for the research, saw fit to organize a press conference, and the news travelled in the general press.{{cite news | title=Scientists map out common cold bug | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B05E3D8133BF931A2575AC0A963948260 | work=The New York Times | date=1985-09-12 | access-date=2006-09-12 | first=Philip M. | last=Boffey | name-list-style = vanc }}{{cite news |title = Virus Decoded; Feat May Help Prevent Colds |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-12-mn-21252-story.html |date = September 12, 1985 |work = Los Angeles Times}} This work laid the foundation for a molecular understanding of cell entry of enteroviruses{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann MG, He Y, Kuhn RJ | title = Picornavirus-receptor interactions | language = English | journal = Trends in Microbiology | volume = 10 | issue = 7 | pages = 324–31 | date = July 2002 | pmid = 12110211 | doi = 10.1016/S0966-842X(02)02383-1 | url = https://www.cell.com/trends/microbiology/abstract/S0966-842X(02)02383-1 }} and for the development of capsid-binding inhibitors against a broad range of enteroviruses.{{cite book |last1=Rossmann |first1=Michael G. |last2=McKinlay |first2=Mark A. |last3=Xiao |first3=Chuan | name-list-style = vanc|chapter =Chapter 16:Design of Capsid-binding Antiviral Agents Against Human Rhinoviruses|date=2010-11-11| title =Structural Virology|pages=319–337|language=en|doi=10.1039/9781849732239-00319 |isbn=978-0-85404-171-8 }}

After the success with the first cold virus, work was done on alphaviruses and flaviviruses.

Using cryo-electron microscopy, in 2016 his lab reported the first known structure of the Zika virus, responsible for a severe epidemic at the time.{{cite web|url=https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q1/researchers-reveal-zika-virus-structure,-a-critical-advance-in-the-development-of-treatments.html|title=Researchers reveal Zika virus structure, a critical advance in the development of treatments - News - Purdue University|last=Purdue News Service|website=www.purdue.edu|language=en|access-date=2019-05-14}} This work was made possible by more than one decade of studies on related mosquito borne flaviviruses, including dengue virus,{{cite journal | vauthors = Kuhn RJ, Zhang W, Rossmann MG, Pletnev SV, Corver J, Lenches E, Jones CT, Mukhopadhyay S, Chipman PR, Strauss EG, Baker TS, Strauss JH | title = Structure of dengue virus: implications for flavivirus organization, maturation, and fusion | journal = Cell | volume = 108 | issue = 5 | pages = 717–25 | date = March 2002 | pmid = 11893341 | pmc = 4152842 | doi = 10.1016/S0092-8674(02)00660-8 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Zhang W, Chipman PR, Corver J, Johnson PR, Zhang Y, Mukhopadhyay S, Baker TS, Strauss JH, Rossmann MG, Kuhn RJ | title = Visualization of membrane protein domains by cryo-electron microscopy of dengue virus | journal = Nature Structural Biology | volume = 10 | issue = 11 | pages = 907–12 | date = November 2003 | pmid = 14528291 | pmc = 4148076 | doi = 10.1038/nsb990 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Yu IM, Zhang W, Holdaway HA, Li L, Kostyuchenko VA, Chipman PR, Kuhn RJ, Rossmann MG, Chen J | title = Structure of the immature dengue virus at low pH primes proteolytic maturation | journal = Science | volume = 319 | issue = 5871 | pages = 1834–7 | date = March 2008 | pmid = 18369148 | doi = 10.1126/science.1153264 | bibcode = 2008Sci...319.1834Y | s2cid = 42267698 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Li L, Lok SM, Yu IM, Zhang Y, Kuhn RJ, Chen J, Rossmann MG | title = The flavivirus precursor membrane-envelope protein complex: structure and maturation | journal = Science | volume = 319 | issue = 5871 | pages = 1830–4 | date = March 2008 | pmid = 18369147 | doi = 10.1126/science.1153263 | bibcode = 2008Sci...319.1830L | s2cid = 37643601 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Zhang X, Sheng J, Plevka P, Kuhn RJ, Diamond MS, Rossmann MG | title = Dengue structure differs at the temperatures of its human and mosquito hosts | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 110 | issue = 17 | pages = 6795–9 | date = April 2013 | pmid = 23569243 | pmc = 3637732 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1304300110 | bibcode = 2013PNAS..110.6795Z | doi-access = free }} using a combination of cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography.{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann MG, Bernal R, Pletnev SV | title = Combining electron microscopic with x-ray crystallographic structures | journal = Journal of Structural Biology | volume = 136 | issue = 3 | pages = 190–200 | date = December 2001 | pmid = 12051899 | doi = 10.1006/jsbi.2002.4435 }}

Rossmann also had a long-term interest in complicated viral machines. These are exemplified by bacteriophage T4{{cite journal | vauthors = Yap ML, Rossmann MG | title = Structure and function of bacteriophage T4 | journal = Future Microbiology | volume = 9 | issue = 12 | pages = 1319–27 | date = December 2014 | pmid = 25517898 | pmc = 4275845 | doi = 10.2217/fmb.14.91 }} and nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses, also referred to as giant viruses.{{cite journal | vauthors = Klose T, Rossmann MG | title = Structure of large dsDNA viruses | journal = Biological Chemistry | volume = 395 | issue = 7–8 | pages = 711–9 | date = July 2014 | pmid = 25003382 | pmc = 4307781 | doi = 10.1515/hsz-2014-0145 }} The determination of an atomic structure of Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 that infects algae{{cite journal | vauthors = Fang Q, Zhu D, Agarkova I, Adhikari J, Klose T, Liu Y, Chen Z, Sun Y, Gross ML, Van Etten JL, Zhang X, Rossmann MG | title = Near-atomic structure of a giant virus | journal = Nature Communications | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | page = 388 | date = January 2019 | pmid = 30674888 | pmc = 6344570 | doi = 10.1038/s41467-019-08319-6 | bibcode = 2019NatCo..10..388F | first8 = Thomas | first9 = Jagat | first7 = Yue }} has opened up new possibilities for studying giant viruses at the atomic level.

Rossmann was an avid hiker and sailboat enthusiast, winning M-16 Scow races on Indiana lakes. He was very energetic, which sometimes caused difficulties for his team members.

Rossmann's wife, Audrey, was a potter and artist. They had three children, Martin, Alice, and Heather. Audrey died in 2009.

When diagnosed with cancer, Rossmann moved into a retirement home, where he met and later married a staff member in charge of welcoming and hospitality, Karen Bogan. He was working on papers and grant proposals until shortly before his death.

Rossmann died on 14 May 2019. Purdue president (and former Indiana governor) Mitch Daniels said of him, "Still vital, still curious, still in his lab at age 88, his was a life as rich in personal example as it was in scientific achievement."

The Rossmann cluster is named for Michael Rossmann, Purdue's Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, who is a pioneer in employing high-performance computing in research to reveal the structure of viruses and their component protein molecules. Calculating electron density structure from X-ray crystallography results by Rossmann's team had long been one of the larger tasks carried out on Purdue's computing systems.

Among other honors, Michael Rossmann was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978, Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1984, Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London in 1996, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999.{{fact|date=January 2022}}

In 1990, he was awarded Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University. He was awarded honorary doctorates by Uppsala University, Sweden (1983);{{cite web | title = Honorary doctorates | date = 9 June 2023 | url = http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/traditions/prizes/honorary-doctorates/ | publisher = Uppsala University }} the University of Strasbourg, France; Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; University of Glasgow, Scotland; University of York, England; Institut Armand-Frappier, University of Québec, Canada. He was awarded the Gregori Aminoff Prize in 1994, the Ewald Prize in 1996, and the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 2001.{{fact|date=January 2022}}

His own employer awarded him with the Purdue University Medal of Honor in 1995.{{fact|date=January 2022}}

In 2016, he was awarded the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics for pioneering contributions to high-resolution diffraction analysis of atomic structures of proteins and viruses.{{fact|date=January 2022}}

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite journal |last1=Lipscomb |first1=William N. |last2=Robertson |first2=J. Monteath |last3=Rossmann |first3=M. G. | name-list-style = vanc |title=518. Crystal-structure studies of polynuclear hydrocarbons. Part I. 2 : 3-8 : 9-dibenzoperylene |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed) |date=1959 |page=2601 |doi=10.1039/JR9590002601}}

{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann MG, Jacobson RA, Hirshfeld FL, Lipscomb WN | title = An account of some computing experiences. | journal = Acta Crystallographica | date = July 1959 | volume = 12 | issue = 7 | pages = 530–5 | doi = 10.1107/S0365110X59001591 | bibcode = 1959AcCry..12..530R }}

{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann MG, Lipscomb WN | title = The Sesquiterpenoid Iresin | journal = Tetrahedron | volume = 4 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 275–93 | date = 1958 | doi = 10.1016/0040-4020(58)80049-6 }}

{{cite journal | vauthors = Rossmann MG, Lipscomb WN | title = Molecular Structure and Stereochemistry of an Iresin Diester | journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society | date = May 1958 | volume = 80 | issue = 10 | pages = 2592–3 | doi = 10.1021/ja01543a067 | bibcode = 1958JAChS..80.2592R }}

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Category:2019 deaths

Category:1930 births

Category:Purdue University faculty

Category:Scientists from Frankfurt

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Category:Immigrants to the United States

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy

Category:People from Hesse-Nassau

Category:American biophysicists