Nathans, Daniel

Nathans, Daniel, 1928–99, American microbiologist, b. Wilmington, Del., M.D. Washington Univ., St. Louis, 1954. He became a professor at Johns Hopkins Univ. in 1962. Nathans worked with Werner Arber and Hamilton Othanel Smith in studying the nature of genes. The trio discovered and used biochemical "scalpels" called restriction enzymes that can cut genetic material into pieces for various studies and applications. The restriction enzyme technique, a fundamental tool in modern genetic research, helped create the biotechnology industry and provided the basis for the Human Genome Project. For their work they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1993, Nathans was awarded the highest scientific award of the United States, the National Medal of Science.

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Nathans, Daniel

(born Oct. 30, 1928, Wilmington, Del., U.S.—died Nov. 16, 1999, Baltimore, Md.) U.S. microbiologist. He received a medical degree from Washington University. Working principally at Johns Hopkins University, he used the restriction enzyme isolated from a bacterium by Hamilton O. Smith to investigate the structure of the DNA of a monkey virus (SV40), the simplest virus known to produce cancer. His construction of a genetic map of the virus was the first application of restriction enzymes to the problem of identifying the molecular basis of cancer. He shared a 1978 Nobel Prize with Smith and Werner Arber.

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Nathans, Daniel (1928–  ) geneticist; born in Wilmington, Del. He was a clinical associate at the National Cancer Institute (1955–57), then a medical resident at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (1957–59). He became a guest investigator at Rockefeller University (1959–62) before joining Johns Hopkins (1962). His studies using restriction enzymes led to the first genetic map of the DNA molecule and made possible the laboratory synthesis of microbial recombinant DNA. He was awarded one-third of the 1978 Nobel Prize in physiology for this pioneering research.