RICHMOND, Calif., May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO - news) today reported that Alan P. Wolffe, Ph.D., the company's senior vice president and chief scientific officer, has died. Dr. Wolffe, who was attending an international scientific meeting, was involved in a fatal traffic accident.
``Alan's death is a profound loss to the scientific community and to all of us who knew and respected him,'' said Edward Lanphier, Sangamo's president and chief executive officer. ``In addition to being a brilliant scientist, he was a devoted husband and father. Our sympathy and support go out to his wife and their young children.''
Lanphier continued, ``Alan's vision and leadership were tremendous assets to our organization. It is a reflection of his talent and drive that in the course of just over a year, we doubled our scientific team and created a world-class research organization. This team has the strength, ability, and expertise to continue carrying out the plans put in place prior to Alan's untimely death. These scientists will now report to Dr. Casey Case, Sangamo's vice president of research.''
Dr. Wolffe, who joined Sangamo in March 2000, was internationally recognized for his research on chromatin structure and its role in the regulation of gene expression, with over 250 research publications on this topic. Prior to coming to Sangamo, he was director of the Department of Molecular Embryology at the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development from 1990 until March 2000. During that time, Dr. Wolffe's laboratory discovered the determinants of chromosomal gene regulation by zinc finger proteins, including observations that have proven fundamental to the understanding of histone acetylation and deacetylation in transcriptional control. Dr. Wolffe received numerous prizes for his research and served on the editorial boards of Biochemistry, Journal of Cell Science, Molecular Biology of the Cell, Molecular Cell Biology, Nucleic Acids Research, and Science. Dr. Wolffe received a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Medical Research Council and a B.A. in biochemistry from Oxford University.
Donations in Dr. Wolffe's memory may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Rett Syndrome Research Foundation. In addition, an educational fund has been established for his children. |
