EVENTS
Bob Letsinger, PhD – 100 years of History
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Zoom picture of symposium speakersTop row: Muthiah Manoharan (Alnylam), Martín Egli (Vanderbilt) Middle row: Marvin Caruthers (University of Colorado), Paul Miller (Johns Hopkins), Margaret Schott (Northwestern) Bottom row: Sergei Gryaznov (MAIA Biotechnology), Reed Letsinger |
By Margaret (Peggy) Schott
A symposium titled “Bob Letsinger, PhD – 100 years of History” took place on the afternoon of Tuesday, 28 September 2021 as part of the annual meeting of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Society (OTS). Robert Lewis Letsinger (1921–2014) was a member of the chemistry faculty at Northwestern from 1946 until 1991, when he retired as Emeritus Professor. Remarkably, his research collaborations and publication activity continued until 2008.
The occasion of the virtual symposium marked the 100th anniversary of Letsinger’s birth in July 1921. Among the presenters were a number of Bob’s former students and collaborators, including current chemistry department members Chad Mirkin and Margaret (Peggy) Schott (NU PhD 1982). Professor Mirkin told the story of his experiences with Bob in navigating the start-up world, while Dr. Schott provided some historical context to Bob’s early research on rubber synthesis during the period of WWII.
Also on the agenda were three of Bob’s former graduate students, who themselves went on to distinguished careers in academia: Marvin Caruthers (1968), Kelvin Ogilvie (1968), and Paul Miller (1969). The title of Dr. Ogilvie’s talk, “Bob Letsinger: Inspiration, Mentor, Motivating Genius, and Life-long Friend”, gives some indication of the esteem in which Bob was held by his students and colleagues alike. The program concluded with a moving reflection by Reed Letsinger on his father as a family man.
The chemistry developed by Professor Letsinger at Northwestern in the area of oligonucleotide synthesis, starting in the mid 1960s, has been hugely influential in the contemporary fields of automated solid-phase synthesis, genetic engineering and rapid DNA-based disease diagnosis. For this reason, Letsinger has been called “The Father of Synthetic DNA Chemistry.”
According to Mirkin, “Bob Letsinger was a scientific giant and a prince of a person. He influenced and improved the lives of many students, and his discoveries laid the foundation for much of the biotech industry.”