Robert D. Goldman is an American cell and molecular biologist. He was the Chair of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
Feinberg School of Medicine
The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, formerly Northwestern Medical School from 1906 to 2002, is the medical school of Northwestern University and is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in ...
. He held the Stephen Walter Ranson Professor of Cell Biology at the institution. He is currently a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Feinberg.
Education
Goldman majored in zoology at the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
, where he pursued an interest in how organisms interact with their environment. He subsequently received his master's degree in Freshwater Biology from the University of Vermont and graduated in 1963.
The title of his master thesis was "An investigation of growth-inhibiting substances produced by Kirchnerielle subsolitaria, a green alga."
Goldman pursued doctoral studies at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, where he researched with
Lionel I. Rebhun on understanding the sea urchin mitotic apparatus. Much work was conducted at the Marine Biological Laboratory in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 78 ...
.
Goldman received his PhD in biology from Princeton University in 1967.
Career
Upon earning his Ph.D. in 1967, Goldman pursued post-doctoral research in enzyme cytochemistry, cell biology, and cell culture at the
Royal Postgraduate Medical School
The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of Imperial ...
in London and the
MRC Institute of Virology in Glasgow. From 1969 through 1973, he was an assistant professor of biology at
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...
. From 1973 to 1981, we were an associate professor and professor of biological sciences at
Carnegie-Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a Private university, private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became t ...
. In 1981, he was named The Stephen Walter Ranson Professor at the
Feinberg School of Medicine
The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, formerly Northwestern Medical School from 1906 to 2002, is the medical school of Northwestern University and is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in ...
at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
and Chair of the Anatomy Department. The department was subsequently renamed the Cell Biology and Anatomy Department, the Cell Biology and Molecular Biology Department, the Cell, Molecular, and Structural Biology Department, and the Cell and Molecular Biology Department. In 2019, he stepped down as chair and remains a professor in the renamed Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
For over three decades, Professor Goldman has researched intermediate filaments in the cytoskeleton and the nucleoskeleton. He concentrates on molecular mechanisms that organize these intermediate filaments, including their assembly and disassembly. He is currently pursuing research on
vimentin
Vimentin is a structural protein that in humans is encoded by the ''VIM'' gene. Its name comes from the Latin ''vimentum'' which refers to an array of flexible rods.
Vimentin is a Intermediate filament#Type III, type III intermediate filamen ...
and
lamins
Lamins, also known as nuclear lamins, are fibrous proteins in type V intermediate filaments, providing structural function and transcriptional regulation in the cell nucleus. Nuclear lamins interact with inner nuclear membrane proteins to fo ...
.
Publications
Goldman has published more than 400 publications on
intermediate filaments
Intermediate filaments (IFs) are cytoskeletal structural components found in the cells of vertebrates, and many invertebrates. Homologues of the IF protein have been noted in an invertebrate, the cephalochordate ''Branchiostoma''.
Intermedi ...
.
He is the author of ''Live Cell Imaging: A Laboratory Manual''.
Awards and honors
MERIT Award, National Institute for General Medical Sciences, 1999-2009
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1988
Ellison Senior Scholar Award in Aging, 2004
Elected president of the
American Society for Cell Biology
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.[Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters
The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (, , ) is a Finnish learned society for natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It is a bilingual (Swedish and Finnish) science academy and the oldest of the four science academies in Finland. ...]
in 2014
NIH Director
Francis Collins
Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ...
made a video tribute
to Goldman for a symposium celebrating his scientific career.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldman, Robert D
Living people
American molecular biologists
Northwestern University faculty
Princeton University alumni
University of Vermont alumni
1939 births