Richard Losick

{{Infobox scientist

| image = Richard Losick.jpg

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1943

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| fields = Molecular Biology

| workplaces = Harvard University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

| education = Princeton University, MIT

| known_for = Investigating endospore formation in Gram positive organisms

| awards = National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Microbiology, American Philosophical Society, Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology

}}Richard Marc Losick ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|oʊ|s|ɪ|k}} {{Respell|LOH|sik}};{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgAbRc0T2po |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211218/PgAbRc0T2po |archive-date=2021-12-18 |url-status=live|title=Richard Losick (Harvard) Part 3: Stochasticity and Cell Fate|website=YouTube |accessdate=7 September 2019}}{{cbignore}} born 1943) is an American molecular biologist. He is the Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology at Harvard University{{cite web|url=https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/mcb/faculty/profile/richard-m-losick/ |accessdate=29 October 2016 |title=Faculty Profile: Richard M Losick |publisher=Harvard University}} and a professor at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.{{cite web|url=http://www.hhmi.org/scientists/richard-m-losick |accessdate=29 October 2016 |title=Our Scientists: Richard M. Losick, PhD |publisher=Howard Hughes Medical Institute}} He is especially noted for his investigations of endospore formation in Gram positive organisms such as Bacillus subtilis.

Education and career

Losick received his AB in Chemistry from Princeton University in 1965, and his PhD in biochemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969.{{cite web|url=https://www.ibiology.org/ibioseminars/microbiology/richard-losick-part-1.html |accessdate=29 October 2016 |title=Richard Losick: Developmental Biology of a Simple Organism - Speaker Bio |publisher=iBiology}} Following his graduate studies, Losick was named a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1972.{{cite web|url=https://news.cornellcollege.edu/2000/09/harvard-biologist-lectures-as-phi-beta-kappa-visiting-scholar/|title=Harvard biologist lectures as Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar|date=6 September 2000|website=Cornell College News Center|publisher=Cornell College|access-date=22 April 2019}} He has held the position of chairman in the Departments of Cellular and Developmental Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Along with Daniel Kahne, Robert Lue, and Susan Mango, he teaches Life Sciences 1a, an introductory biology and chemistry course, which was the fourth largest lecture course taught at Harvard College in 2015.{{cite news|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/9/14/ec10-cs50-largest-enrollments/|title=Ec 10 and CS50 Compete for Largest Enrollment Numbers|last=Rodman|first=Melissa C.|publisher=The Harvard Crimson|date=14 September 2015|access-date=22 April 2019}}

Research

Losick's research interests include RNA polymerase, sigma factors, regulation of gene transcription, and bacterial development. He is known for his studies of asymmetric division in Bacillus subtilis, which divides to form one endospore and one nurturing cell. Currently, Losick studies biofilm formation by the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. His research group has demonstrated that chromosomal DNA is recycled to form an electrostatic extracellular net in order to hold neighboring bacterial cells together.{{cite web|url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/rlosick/pages/research|title=Research|website=Richard Losick|access-date=22 April 2019}}

Awards and honors

Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation (1973){{cite web|url=https://www.dreyfus.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/camille-past.pdf|title=Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Past Awards|website=Dreyfus Foundation|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Member, National Academy of Sciences (1992){{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/62035.html|title=Richard M. Losick|website=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996){{cite web|url=https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/academy/multimedia/pdfs/publications/bookofmembers/ChapterL.pdf|title=Book of Members 1780-2017, Chapter L|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1998){{cite web|url=https://www.aaas.org/fellows/historic|title=Historic Fellows|website=American Association for the Advancement of Science|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology (elected prior to 2000){{when|year unknown|date=April 2019}}
Visiting Fellow, Phi Beta Kappa (2000)
Member, American Philosophical Society (2005){{cite web|url=https://mcbpublic.unix.fas.harvard.edu/mcb/news/news-detail/3347/richard-losick-elected-to-american-philosophical-society/|title=Richard Losick Elected to American Philosophical Society|last=Hopkin|first=Karen|date=13 June 2005|website=Harvard Molecular & Cellular Biology|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology, National Academy of Sciences (2007){{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/waksman-award-in-microbiology.html|title=Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Gairdner Foundation International Award (2009){{cite web|url=https://gairdner.org/award_winners/richard-losick/|title=Richard Losick|website=Les Prix Canada Gairdner Awards|access-date=22 April 2019}}
Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, Columbia University (2012){{cite web|url=https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/research/louisa-gross-horwitz-prize/horwitz-prize-awardees|title=Horwitz Prize Awardees|website=Columbia University Medical Center|date=20 June 2018 |access-date=22 April 2019}}

References

External links

[http://www.techtransfer.harvard.edu/crop/investigators/investigator.php?id=101 Research Summary & Profile], Harvard University
[http://www.hhmi.org/research/professors/losick_bio.html Biography of Richard M. Losick] on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute site

Category:Living people

Category:1943 births

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni

Category:Harvard University faculty

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society