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Editorial: Passing of a gentle giant of peptide science: In memoriam, R. Bruce Merrifield

2006; Wiley; Volume: 84; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/bip.20574

1097-0282

Lila M. Gierasch,

Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research

On May 14, 2006, R. Bruce Merrifield died at home after a long battle with cancer. The peptide community lost a visionary and creative colleague, arguably the best-known peptide chemist of all time, and a dear friend. We express our deepest sympathies to Bruce's wife Libby and to the entire Merrifield family. Bruce Merrifield's scientific contributions are profound and changed our field forever. It is safe to say that without solid-phase peptide synthesis the era we currently take for granted, in which we can readily screen, biophysically characterize, and differentially assay large numbers of peptides of ever-increasing size, would never have happened. Moreover, the impact that Bruce's ideas had on other fields is also huge. The strategy of coupling growing chains to solid supports is now central to many of the manipulations of modern chemical biology. Nonetheless, here's how Bruce described his first thoughts that led to synthesis on a solid matrix: “It soon became clear to me, however, that such syntheses [to wit, solution-phase synthesis of peptides] were difficult and time consuming and that a new approach was needed if large numbers of peptides were required or if larger and more complex peptides were to be made …. One day I had an idea about how the goal of a more efficient synthesis might be achieved.”* The modesty and straightforward style conveyed by these words reflect the essence of Bruce's every working hour and every interpersonal contact. Bruce and Libby Merrifield traveled widely, mostly by car, and were fixtures at all peptide meetings. Bruce touched many, many peptide scientists in this way as well as by directly hosting them in his lab. He encouraged his coworkers and colleagues and irrepressibly communicated his love for science. He never sought to draw attention to himself, yet his accomplishments put him in the scientific limelight repeatedly: Among his many awards were the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1969, the Gairdner Award in 1970, the Intra-Science Award in 1970, the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry in 1972, the Nichols Medal in 1973, the Instrument Specialties Company Award of the University of Nebraska in 1977, the Royal Society of Chemistry Medal in 1987, the Ralph F. Hirschmann Award of the American Chemical Society in 1990, and the Glenn T. Seaborg Medal of UCLA in 1993. Bruce was particularly proud that his peers selected him to receive the 2nd Alan E. Pierce Award of the American Peptide Symposium in 1979 and the Josef Rudinger Award of the European Peptide Society in 1990. Bruce Merrifield was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972, and he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984, which he viewed as his crowning achievement. Bruce always expressed gratitude to his teachers, especially M. S. Dunn of the University of California at Los Angeles Chemistry Department, with whom he did his doctoral training, and D. W. Woolley, with whom he worked in his early years at Rockefeller University. But it is we who must express gratitude to Bruce: He humbly raised our field to the level we all enjoy, by enabling us to do the scientific ventures we dream of and by showing peptide science and its excitement to the world. His vision was truly extraordinary as he recognized the potential of peptide synthesis as well as the urgency for it to be efficient. He saw clearly that the need for facile access to peptides of increasing number, length, and complexity was driven by their wide array of critical biological roles. This clarity of motivation and thinking stands as an example to which we can all aspire. In early 2007, a memorial issue of Peptide Science guest edited by George Barany and Svetlana Mostov will be published with articles dedicated to Bruce's memory. Thank you Bruce, for everything, and good-bye.