Jack L.

Strominger
Jack Leonard Strominger (born August 7, 1925)[1] is
the Higgins Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard Jack L. Strominger
University, specializing in the structure and function of Born August 7, 1925
human histocompatibility proteins and their role in New York City, US
disease. He won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Alma mater Harvard University
Medical Research in 1995.[2][3] Yale Medical School
Known for penicillin mechanism of action
Major histocompatibility complex
Early life and education Spouse Ann

Strominger was born in New York City. He was born Children Andrew Strominger, Ethan
one of three brothers to a dentist father. He graduated Strominger and Paul Strominger
from Bayside High School. He studied at Harvard Awards John J. Abel Award (1960)
University and completed his degree in psychology in Pfizer Award in Enzyme
1944. During World War II, he entered the Navy V-12 Chemistry (formerly known as
program as part of Harvard College. In March 1946, he the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme
was discharged from the Navy. He received his MD Chemistry) (1962)
degree in 1948 from Yale Medical School.[4] Selman A. Waksman Award in
Microbiology (1968)
Rose Payne Award (1986)
Career Hoescht-Roussel Award,
American Society for
After graduation he joined the faculty at the Microbiology Pasteur Medal in
Washington University School of Medicine. There he Gold (1990)
obtained a fellowship in the Department of Albert Lasker Award for Basic
Pharmacology with Oliver H. Lowry. Afterwards, he Medical Research (1995)
completed his residency in medicine at the University Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig
of Chicago, where he met his wife Ann, who was a Darmstaedter Prize (1996)
student. In 1951, during the Korean War the United Japan Prize (1999)
States Navy called him back into service to be
Scientific career
stationed at a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
Strominger married, and together, the newlyweds went Fields Biochemistry and Immunology
to Bangkok. But, after only two or three months, he Institutions Washington University School of
was ordered by the United States Navy to leave Medicine
Bangkok. The remainder of his appointment as a University of Wisconsin Medical
commissioned officer was at the National Institutes of School
Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland under Sanford American Academy of Arts and
Rosenthal, chief of the Laboratory of Pharmacology in Sciences
the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Harvard University
Diseases. From work he had done in the Lowry United States National Academy
laboratory and using work begun by James T. Park, of Sciences
Strominger began new work into the recently-purified- Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
compound penicillin's antibiotic mechanism of action. Harvard Medical School
Strominger left the NIH, and, after brief study at American Philosophical Society
Carlsberg Laboratory and Cambridge University, American Society of
returned to Washington University in St. Louis as an Biochemistry and Molecular
assistant professor of pharmacology. At Washington Biology
University in St. Louis, he discovered that uridine American Association for the
nucleotide that accumulated in the penicillin-treated Advancement of Science
bacterium staphylococcus aureus was a precursor of American Association of
the bacterial cell wall. Immunologists
American Society for
Strominger joined the University of Wisconsin, Microbiology
Madison, as chairman of the department of American Society for
pharmacology from 1964 to 1968. There, with Donald Pharmacology and Experimental
J. Tipper in 1965, he demonstrated the mechanism of Therapeutics
action by which antibiotic penicillins kill bacteria by American Chemical Society
inhibiting the completion of the synthesis of structural Doctoral Timothy A. Springer
components of bacterial cell walls known as students Hidde Ploegh
peptidoglycans. Penicillins specifically inhibit the Matthew F. Mescher
activity of enzymes that are needed for the cross- David J. Waxman
linking of peptidoglycans during the final step in cell Joel N. H. Stern
wall biosynthesis. These antibiotics do this by binding Brandy L. Houser
to the group of enzymes known as Penicillin-binding Leonardo M.R. Ferreira
proteins using a chemical structure found on penicillin Peter Cresswell
molecules known as a β-lactam ring. β-lactam imitates
the naturally occurring acyl-D-alanyl-D-alanine substrate for the enzymes.[5]

He joined the Harvard faculty in 1968 to work in the biochemistry and molecular biology department
specializing in microbial biochemistry, with a small portion of his time being devoted to organ
transplantation biology. Knowledge was scarce with respect to the mechanisms of allograft rejection.
There was none for the transplantation antigens. Graft acceptance or rejection was only hinted at through
previous knowledge of Blood type erythrocyte transfusion. In the mid-1960's, Allan Davies from the
United Kingdom had discovered a number of the 3,6-dideoxyhexoses that could be utilized to distinguish
bacterial surfaces. Davies speculated that the specificity of transplantation antigen might also be
determined by cell surface arrangements of sugars. Later, Stan Nathenson worked with Davies to
characterize transplantation antigens and discovered that they could be solubilized from the surfaces of
cells by the protease papain.[6]

In 1974, Stominger became a member of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, a cancer treatment and
research institution in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the clinical affiliates and research institutes of
Harvard Medical School.[3] At that time, the institute's director was Emil Frei who had been a classmate
with Strominger at Yale Medical School. There he worked on immunology involving Major
histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins and their interaction with viruses. The MHC is a large locus
on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for cell membrane-
embedded external surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. These cell surface proteins
are called MHC molecules. Together with X-ray diffraction protein crystallographer Don Wiley,
Strominger (who supplied biological cell culture systems and proteins) solved the chemical structures and
three-dimensional structures of several MHC proteins, and further, solved the three-dimensional
structures of the chemical complexes of these proteins during their peptide substrate interactions.[2] Early
work, elucidated the three-dimensional structures of the human class I MHC molecules of HLA-A2,
HLA-A68, and HLA-B27. Ultimately, papain-solubilized fragments of the human class II MHC antigens
HLA-DR1, HLA-DR2, HLA-DR3, HLA-DR4, HLA-DR7, and HLA-DR8 were purified from
homozygous human B lymphoblastoid cell lines and crystals were grown for diffraction studies.

Awards
Strominger was the first recipient of the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology in 1968.[7] In 1969,
Strominger received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[8] Strominger
was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1967.[9] He was elected to the National
Academy of Sciences in 1970, and the National Institute of Medicine in 1975.[10][11] He was elected to
the American Philosophical Society in 1994.[12] In 1999, he received the Japan Prize.[1]

Personal life
Strominger married Ann in 1951. She died in 2017. Their children are physicist Andrew Strominger,[13]
Ethan Strominger and Paul Strominger.

References
1. Dr. Jack L. Strominger (http://www.japanprize.jp/en/prize_prof_1999_jack.html).
japanprize.jp
2. "Lasker Foundation – 1995 Basic Medical Research Award" (http://www.laskerfoundation.or
g/awards/1995_b_description.htm#strominger). Lasker Foundation. 1995. Retrieved
1 February 2010.
3. "Jack Leonard Strominger". The Complete Marquis Who's Who (R) Biographies. Marquis
Who's Who LLC. 6 November 2009.
4. Strominger, Jack L. (2006). "The Tortuous Journey of a Biochemist to Immunoland and
What He Found There" (https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev.immunol.24.021605.090703).
Annual Review of Immunology. 24: 1–31. doi:10.1146/annurev.immunol.24.021605.090703
(https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev.immunol.24.021605.090703). PMID 16551242 (https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16551242).
5. Tipper, D. J.; Strominger, J. L. (October 1, 1965). "Mechanism of action of penicillins: a
proposal based on their structural similarity to acyl-D-alanyl-D-alanine" (https://www.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC219812). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 54
(4): 1133–1141. Bibcode:1965PNAS...54.1133T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1965PN
AS...54.1133T). doi:10.1073/pnas.54.4.1133 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.54.4.1133).
PMC 219812 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC219812). PMID 5219821 (http
s://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5219821).
6. Nathenson, S. G.; Davies, D. A. (1966). "Solubilization and partial purification of mouse
histocompatibility antigens from a membranous lipoprotein fraction" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/pmc/articles/PMC224397). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America. 56 (2): 476–483. Bibcode:1966PNAS...56..476N (https://ui.adsab
s.harvard.edu/abs/1966PNAS...56..476N). doi:10.1073/pnas.56.2.476 (https://doi.org/10.10
73%2Fpnas.56.2.476). PMC 224397 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC22439
7). PMID 5229968 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5229968).
 7. "Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology" (https://web.archive.org/web/2011011217431
9/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_waksman). National
Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original (http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServe
r?pagename=AWARDS_waksman) on 12 January 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
8. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement" (https://achievement.or
g/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration). www.achievement.org. American
Academy of Achievement.
9. "Jack Leonard Strominger" (https://www.amacad.org/person/jack-leonard-strominger).
American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
10. "National Academy of Sciences: Directory Entry" (http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir/1051262
733?pg=vprof&mbr=1005370&returl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasonline.org%2Fsite%2FDir%
2F1051262733%3Fpg%3Dsrch%26view%3Dbasic&retmk=search_again_link). Retrieved
1 February 2010.
11. "Institute of Medicine: Directory" (https://archive.today/20121211164734/http://www.iom.edu/
Global/Directory/Detail.aspx?id=0000049990). Institute of Medicine, National Academy of
Science. Archived from the original (http://www.iom.edu/Global/Directory/Detail.aspx?id=000
0049990) on 11 December 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
12. "APS Member History" (https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Jack+L.+Stro
minger&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=adv
anced). search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
13. "Still wrestling with big questions" (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/01/jack-stro
minger-to-retire-after-a-lifetime-of-achievement/). Harvard News. 6 January 2020.

Further reading
Turner, M. J.; Cresswell, P.; Parham, P.; Strominger, J. L.; Mann, D. L.; Sanderson, A. R.
(June 1975). "Purification and some properties of papain-solubilized histocompatibility
antigens from a cultured human lymphoblastoid line" (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0021-925
8%2819%2941332-X). J. Biol. Chem. 250 (12): 4512–4519. doi:10.1016/S0021-
9258(19)41332-X (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0021-9258%2819%2941332-X).
PMID 1141219 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1141219).
Orr, H. T.; Lopez de Castro, J. A.; Lancet, D.; Strominger, J. L. (December 1979). "Complete
amino acid sequence of a papain-solubilized human histocompatibility antigen, HLA-B7. 2.
Sequence determination and search for homologies" (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fbi00592a0
30). Biochemistry. 18 (25): 5711–5719. doi:10.1021/bi00592a030 (https://doi.org/10.1021%
2Fbi00592a030). PMID 518865 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/518865).
Silver, M. L.; Guo, H.-C.; Strominger, J. L.; Wiley, D. C. (November 1992). "Atomic structure
of a human MHC molecule presenting an influenza virus peptide" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2
F360367a0). Nature. 360 (6402): 367–369. Bibcode:1992Natur.360..367S (https://ui.adsab
s.harvard.edu/abs/1992Natur.360..367S). doi:10.1038/360367a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2
F360367a0). PMID 1448154 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1448154).
Gorga, J.; Horejsi, V.; Johnson, D.; Raghupathy, R.; Strominger, J. L. (November 1987).
"Purification and characterization of class II histocompatibility antigens from a homozygous
human B cell line" (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0021-9258%2818%2947699-5). J. Biol.
Chem. 262 (33): 16087–16094. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)47699-5 (https://doi.org/10.101
6%2FS0021-9258%2818%2947699-5). PMID 2824477 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28
24477).
Gorga, J. C.; Brown, J. H.; Jardetzky, T.; Wiley, D. C.; Strominger, J. L. (June–August 1991).
"Crystallization of HLA-DR antigens" (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0923-2494%2891%29900
38-k). Res. Immunol. 142 (5–6): 401–407. doi:10.1016/0923-2494(91)90038-k (https://doi.or
 g/10.1016%2F0923-2494%2891%2990038-k). PMID 1754711 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/1754711).

External links
Profile at the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University (http
s://hscrb.harvard.edu/labs/strominger-lab/)
United States National Academy of Sciences member profile (http://www.nasonline.org/mem
ber-directory/members/49990.html)
1,000 research paper contributions listed at ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net/sc
ientific-contributions/Jack-L-Strominger-39478449)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jack_L._Strominger&oldid=1258017305"