Finding Aid to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Life Science Division technical records of Robert K. Mortimer, 1950-1999Repository:Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Archives and Records Office1 Cyclotron Rd. MS: 69R0102 Berkeley, California 94720 USA https://commons.lbl.gov/display/aro/Archives+and+Records email: aro@lbl.gov Publisher:American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives Encoding Information:Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Melanie J. Mueller in 2012. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process. Finding aid is written in English. Description of the CollectionTitle and dates of collection:Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Life Science Division technical records of Robert K. Mortimer, 1950-1999 Filing code:ARO-5425 Papers created by:Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Life Sciences Division Size of collection:6.25 linear feet Short description of collection:These records document biophysicist and professor Robert K. Mortimer's research in the genetics of yeast and related organisms. Of interest in this collection are Mortimer's notebooks from the 1950s, and his materials documenting the Yeast Genetics Stock Center. Language(s) of material:English Selected Search TermsThese papers have been indexed in the International Catalog of Sources for History of Physics and Allied Sciences (ICOS) using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms. Historical NoteThe laboratory was founded as the University of California Radiation Laboratory in 1931 by Ernest Orlando Lawrence, a University of California Berkeley physicist who won the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics. It is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory, operated by the University of California. The name of the laboratory has evolved since its founding: Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (1931-1958), the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (1959-1995), and currently the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1995-present). Biophysicist Robert K. Mortimer (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1953) was assistant professor of genetics at Berkeley beginning in 1956, became full professor in 1966, chaired the division of medical physics from 1972 to 1978, and served as chair of the Department of Biophysics and Medical Physics from 1984 to 1987. He also was affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he served for a year as acting director of the lab's Human Genome Project. Mortimer came to Berkeley in the early 1950s to study the impact of radiation on the survival of cells. He created strains of yeast with multiple copies of each chromosome, and discovered that more chromosomes led paradoxically to greater X-ray sensitivity. This led to his studies of the cell processes that protect them from physical and chemical damages to their DNA. The RAD genes discovered in these studies are the foundation of most contemporary studies of how higher cells repair damage to their DNA. By the mid-1970s, Mortimer had created a genetic map of a yeast (Saccharomyces) with multiple mutations marking all the chromosomes, which he used to research how x-rays cause cell death. Even with a workable genetic map, Saccharomyces would have failed as an experimental organism except for another of Mortimer's innovations. Unlike other fungi whose spores are easy to isolated and cultivate, the four spores from Saccharomyces’ spores are born in an ascus that seems to be armor plated. In 1959, Mortimer and his colleague Johnston discovered that one could use the digestive juice of a snail to break that armor and liberate the spores for genetic analysis, and it was then possible for one person to more easily analyze thousands of meioses. This discovery led to the development of a gene conversion process in Saccharomyces, which allows the information on one chromosome to be copied into the homologous chromosome, replacing the information that was there. Mortimer and colleagues produced the wealth of data on gene conversion that eventually led to the methods that allow gene replacements to be done in many different organisms. Yeast divide by budding, leading to populations of genetically identical cells, and in 1959 Mortimer and Johnston discovered that individual cells in a culture of yeast can have very different life spans, depending upon whether the cell is a mother cell or a bud. Mortimer’s work on yeast aging set the stage for the discovery of the first genes affecting aging, and whose function is conserved from yeast to metazoans. Mortimer also created the free Saccharomyces stock center to house thousands of strains of yeast that he thought would be of interest to the scientific community. A researcher could request any strain, and pay only the shipping to send the strain. This generous service did much to create a culture of sharing which still characterizes the yeast genetic community to this day. In 2002 Mortimer received the George W. Beadle Award from the Genetics Society of America in recognition of his many contributions that created the community of approximately 10,000 yeast genetic researchers. Following his official retirement from UC, Mortimer spent 10 years in affiliation with the University of Florence, where he researched the genetic properties of yeast strains used in wine production. Scope and Contents of CollectionThese records document LBL scientist and UC Berkeley professor Robert K. Mortimer's groundbreaking work with yeast. These records document biophysicist and professor Robert K. Mortimer's research in the genetics of yeast and related organisms. Using yeast cells, Mortimer studied the impact of radiation on the survival of cells and discovered that an increase in chromosomes in a cell led paradoxically to greater x-ray sensitivity. This discovery led to his famous studies of the many processes that all cells have to protect them from various physical and chemical damages to their DNA. Indeed, the so called RAD genes that were discovered in these studies are the foundation of most contemporary studies of how higher cells repair damage to their DNA. Mortimer created the saccharomyces stock center, which housed the many thousands of strains of yeast that his group created and made these strains available for genetic research. Of interest in this collection are Mortimer's notebooks from the 1950s, and his materials documenting the Yeast Genetics Stock Center. Access to CollectionThis collection requires permission for access. Please contact the repository for more information, via email at aro@lbl.gov. Container List
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