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Daniel Mazia: a passion for understanding how cells reproduce

1998; Elsevier BV; Volume: 8; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0962-8924(98)01328-2

1879-3088

David Epel, Gerald Schatten,

Photoreceptor and optogenetics research

Perhaps the greatest honour bestowed on a scientist is the universal acceptance of their pioneering research—so that it becomes part of the very fabric of science: their discoveries are incorporated into everyday vocabulary. Such are the contributions of Daniel Mazia (Boxes 1 and 2), whose first isolation of the mitotic spindle or `mitotic apparatus' in the early 1950s began the modern journey that has led to many of our insights about cell division, the cell cycle and a deeper understanding in many areas of cell biology. Mazia also was involved in early work on the role of Ca2+ in egg activation at fertilization, and he rekindled interest in the centrosome. In addition to this active life in research, he devoted much of his time to teaching at Missouri, Berkeley, Woods Hole and Stanford, and this lifetime in teaching inspired generations of students who took his courses in cell biology.