biology

Paul M. Wassarman

Paul M. Wassarman is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paul M. Wassarman rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Michael Wassarman (born March 26, 1940) is an American biologist who has been a professor in the Dept. of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai since 1996 (chairman 2000-2007). His laboratory identified and characterised proteins that make up the zona pellucida (ZP) of mammalian eggs and determined their role in fertilisation.

Key takeaways

Paul M. Wassarman belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Paul M. Wassarman to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul M. Wassarman from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul Michael Wassarman (born March 26, 1940) is an American biologist who has been a professor in the Dept. of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai since 1996 (chairman 2000-2007). His laboratory identified and characterised proteins that make up the zona pellucida (ZP) of mammalian eggs and determined their role in fertilisation.

Education He earned his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Massachusetts, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Brandeis University (1963–1967; Advisor, N.O.Kaplan), and was a postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England (1967–1970; sponsor, J.C.Kendrew).

Career He was a faculty member in the Dept. of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School (1972–1986) and in the Dept. of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology (1986–1996; chairman 1987-1992) before joining the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Academic work His main research contributions lie in the areas of mammalian oogenesis and fertilization, particularly on the structure and function of the egg's ZP. His laboratory identified and characterised proteins that make up the ZP, identified growing oocytes as the site of synthesis of ZP proteins, demonstrated that two ZP proteins serve as sperm receptors during fertilization and are inactive following fertilization, identified regions of ZP polypeptides involved in ZP protein secretion and assembly, and proposed a structure for fibrils that constitute the ZP

He edited six volumes of Methods in Enzymology and five volumes of Current Topics in Developmental Biology, was series editor of Advances in Developmental Biology/Biochemistry, has been series editor of Current Topics in Developmental Biology since 2007, and authored "A Guide to Zona Pellucida Domain Proteins" (Wiley, 2015) and "A Place in History: the Biography of John C. Kendrew" (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Awards and honors He was an NIH predoctoral fellow, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation postdoctoral fellow, Rockefeller Foundation special research fellow, and Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professorial Chair. He has been an advisor to NIH, NSF, ERC, NSC, WHO, Wellcome Trust, Schering AG, and Hoffmann-La Roche and delivered the Helen Mangelsdorph, M.C. Chang, James E. Leatham, Ernst Schering, Alan S. Parkes, and Luigi Mastroianni memorial lectures.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul M. Wassarman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul M. Wassarman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paul M. Wassarman before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paul M. Wassarman ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paul M. Wassarman

In research: Paul M. Wassarman appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paul M. Wassarman in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paul M. Wassarman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 births, American biologists, Brandeis University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul M. Wassarman outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Paul M. Wassarman in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul M. Wassarman means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Paul M. Wassarman in simple terms?

Why does Paul M. Wassarman matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paul M. Wassarman?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paul M. Wassarman.