Lederberg, Nobel Prize winner.

Geneticist and microbiologist Joshua Lederberg, PhD, winner of a Nobel Prize in 1958 for his work in bacterial genetics, died Feb. 2 in New York. He was 82.

Known as one of the founders of molecular biology, Lederberg served as a professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1959, where he conducted research in the genetics of E. coli and salmonella as well as on antibody formation. In 1957, he founded the university's Department of Medical Genetics and served as its first chair.

Two years later, Lederberg founded the Department of Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine and chaired the department until 1978. While there, he conducted research in bacterial genetics and in splicing and recombining DNA.

An APHA member since 1966, Lederberg continued to work until 2005, conducting laboratory research on bacterial and human genetics and advising government and industry on global health policy, biological warfare and the threat of bioterrorism. Among his recent activities, Lederberg was professor emeritus and Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation Scholar at Rockefeller University, where he had served as president from 1978 to 1990.

Among his many honors, Lederberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush in 2006.