Templeton: Framed population biologist
By Tony Fitzpatrick
Alan R. Templeton, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences and professor of genetics at the School of Medicine, will be named the Charles Rebstock Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences. A formal installation will be held later in the year.
Templeton: Framed population biologist |
Templeton earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from Washington University in 1969 and a master's in statistics and a Ph.D. in human genetics, both in 1972, from the University of Michigan. After serving as assistant professor of zoology at the University of Texas at Austin, he joined the Arts & Sciences faculty here in 1977 as associate professor of biology. He became full professor in 1981.
Templeton is a renowned population and evolutionary biologist who has analyzed the genomes of many different species to better understand their evolution and their survival. Between 1984 and 1992, and again in 1996-97, he was head of the Evolutionary and Population Biology Program in the University's Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences. In connection with this program, he regularly teaches courses in molecular evolution, applied biostatistics and population genetics.
"Professor Templeton is a scholar of remarkable depth and scope, whose research is known and admired worldwide," said Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and dean of Arts & Sciences. "He has made landmark contributions to population biology, conservation and ecology, and many of his findings have significant applications to human health and medicine. He is an outstanding teacher who has reached many young people. In holding this professorship, he is a worthy successor to a number of Washington University's most outstanding biologists who have been Rebstock professors."
The work in his laboratory is focused on diverse applications of evolutionary biology. He performs genetic surveys on the Collard lizard to study its population structure, then uses this information to establish new populations on restored habitats in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Templeton's study of molecular variants in the DNA of Drosophila mercatorum --which trigger a cascade of developmental and physiological effects greatly altering the life history of the fly --has led to development of new analytical techniques, which he now is applying to the study of the role of lipid metabolic genes in human coronary artery disease. An additional application is a study of the role of evolutionary change in the envelope gene of the HIV virus on the onset and progression of AIDS in infected persons.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science elected Templeton a fellow in 1997.
The Charles Rebstock Professorship of Biology was established in 1925 by a gift from Rebstock, a businessman and philanthropist whose generosity also made possible the construction of Rebstock Hall for biology and botany in 1926. Other occupants of the chair were Caswell Grave, Ph.D., 1926 to 1940; Francis O. Schmitt, Ph.D., 1940; Viktor Hamburger, Ph.D., 1959 to 1969; Florence Moog, Ph.D., 1975 to 1984; and Joseph E. Varner, Ph.D., 1984 to 1992.
