Biographical Memoirs Volume 86 (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Norman Davidson
Norman Davidson
Pages 60-77
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From page 61... ...
From about 1960 till about 1980 he was a founder of nucleic acid molecular biology; and * om then until 2002 he made numerous contributions to molecular aspects of neuroscience.
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From page 62... ...
He is survived by his wife, Annemarie Davidson, of Sierra Madre, California; by four children, Terry Davidson of Poway, California; Laureen Agee of Mammoth Lakes, California; Jeff Davidson of Cayucos, California; and Brian Davidson of Walnut Creek, California; and by eight grandchildren. Norman rarely used his middle name, Ralph.
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From page 63... ...
The kinetics in those days was of microsecond to millisecond resolution, and these elementary steps could not be resolved directly in real time. Forty years later Norman was pleased and thrilled that we were able to freeze in time 13 complexes with femtosecond time resolution in femtochemistry experiments involving the collision of halogen atom and diatomic molecules.
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From page 64... ...
During the 1950s, other founders of molecular genetic biology who worked at Caltech included Howard Temin, Renato Dulbecco, John Cairns, Alex Rich, Jerome Vinograd, Robert Sinsheimer, and Max Delbruck. The MeselsonStahl experiment, published in 1958, was conducted just down the hall from Norman's office.
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From page 65... ...
He was of course light because before recombinant DNA and cloning came along it was not possible to do ar ythir g other than electrophysiological studies I decided that the field most suitable for biochemical studies was DNA (2002,2) NORMAN S STUDIES ON DNA With his students William Dove and James Wetmur, Norman developed fundamental facts about the effects of ionic strength and divalent cations on DNA hybridization and denaturation (1962, 1968)
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From page 66... ...
With Eric Fyrberg, Norman cloned all six Drosophila actin genes and found homologies to both Dictyostelium (which served as the original probe) and vertebrate cytoskeletal actins (1976)
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From page 67... ...
ION CHANNELS AND RECEPTORS Davidson believed that cloning genes for ion channels would open up new vistas for neuroscience; so the Caltech group began studying cDNA clones for the classically defined ion channels, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and
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From page 68... ...
And one also conducted many mutagenesis studies to define important functional roles for individual amino acids. Early colleagues on those studies included Mike White, Alan Goldin, Reid Leonard, Lei Yu, Pierre Charnet, and Doug Krafte.
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From page 69... ...
, Richard Axel at Columbia promptly sent Norman a bottle of champagne. Then David Julius and Axel went on, using an even better expression cloning technique, to find the entire functional cDNA.
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From page 70... ...
The collaboration included Baruch Kanner of the Hebrew University, who had obtained a partial sequence for the GABA transporter. Norman designed degenerate oligonucleotide probes, and John isolated a cDNA clone, designated GAT-1, which in Xenopus oocytes caused the uptake of [3H]
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From page 71... ...
We showed that BDNF could enhance synaptic transmission between a synaptically connected cell pair. We made a dominant negative TrkB by deleting the intracellular portion of the gene and fusing GFP to the C terminus as a marker for expression.
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From page 72... ...
Norman particularly enjoyed discussing antisense RNA, and he paid attention to the rapid advances in siRNA that occurred in the last three years of his life. Early on, students and postdocs had desks in both labs, Norman's in the sub-basement of the Crellin building in Chemistry and mine on the third floor of the Kerckhoff
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From page 73... ...
But former colleagues report that a few of those memos led to an entire career of satisfying research. Norman also attended Molecular Biology Lunch at the Athenaeum every Monday, and he kept the conversation focused on science.
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From page 74... ...
WE THANK Annemarie Davidson, Judith Campbell, Eric Davidson, and Philip Sharp for help with this memoir.
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From page 75... ...
Mapping of poly(A) sequences in the electron microscope reveals unusual structure of type C oncornavirus RNA molecules.
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From page 76... ...
Expression of a dominant negative TrkB receptor, T1, reveals a requirement for presynaptic signaling in BDNF-induced synaptic potentiation in cultured hippocampal neurons.
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From page 77... ...
Number, density, and surface/cytoplasmic distribution of GABA transporters at presynaptic structures of knock-in mice carrying GABA transporter subtype 1-green fluorescent protein fusions. J Neurosci.
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