Max D. Summers

Max Duane Summers (born 1939 in Ohio) is an American molecular biologist[1] and inventor,[2] known for his work on the Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS).[3]

Education and career

Summers graduated in 1962 from Wilmington College with an A.B. in biology. In 1968 he received a PhD in entomology from Purdue University. In the department of botany of the University of Texas he became an assistant professor and then an associate professor. In the department of entomology of Texas A&M University he became in 1977 a full professor, retiring as professor emeritus in 2011.[1]

Together with his former student, Gale Smith, Summers was responsible for the pioneering and enabling research that developed the baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS). BEVS has been routinely used in agricultural and medical research for basic research, gene discovery and for the commercial development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. Among its numerous impacts on society, BEVS has been used in the development of vaccines for the prevention of several human cancers, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives a year.[1]

Gale E. Smith[4] received in 1986 his Ph.D. in molecular biology with Summers as thesis advisor. In 1988 Smith and Summers were granted the key BEVS patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,745,051: "Method for Producing a Recombinant baculovirus Expression Vector", with assignee the Texas A&M University System.[5][2]

Summers and co-workers demonstrated that mutations of integral membrane proteins expressed within the inner nuclear membrane of the nuclear envelope can cause diseases associated with muscular dystrophies and lipodystrophies. Their research was an important contribution to knowledge of protein targeting with many possible applications to medicine and agricultural pest control.[1]

Summers is the author or co-author of more than 170 articles in academic journals.[5] In 2001 the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) listed him among the 250 most cited microbiologists in the world. He was an editorial board member of Virology and the executive editor of Protein Expression and Purification.[1]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

Articles

Pamphlets

  • Summers, M. D.; Smith, G. E. (1987). A manual of methods for baculovirus vectors and insect cell culture procedures. No. 1555. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.

Books

References

  1. Williams, Rob (January 26, 2017). "Dr. Max Summers Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award". Department of Entomology, Texas A&M.
  2. "Patents by Inventor Max D. Summers". Justia Patents.
  3. "Max D. Summers". National Academy of Sciences (nasonline.org).
  4. "Novavax, Inc. Appoints Gale E. Smith, Ph.D. as Vice President, Vaccine Development". January 13, 2004.
  5. "Dr. Max Summers (PhD '68) Receives 'Father of Baculovirus Expression Technology' Award". Department of Entomology, Purdue University. February 19, 2009.
  6. "Historic Fellows Listing". American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  7. "American Society for Virology Presidents".
  8. "Summers Receives 'Inventor of the Year Award' from Lawyers' Group". AgriLife Today. Texas A&M. May 5, 1999.
  9. Latefi, Nazlie (2009). "Bye-bye WilBio". Nature Biotechnology. 27 (8): 682. doi:10.1038/nbt0809-682a. ISSN 1087-0156. S2CID 10341822.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.