It is with deep sadness that we announce that Dr. J. Thomas August passed away on February 11, 2019 at the age of 91. Dr. August was our scientific founder and was responsible for the discovery of the lysosome-associated membrane protein (LAMP) targeting technology, among his many scientific contributions. He continued working on his scientific discoveries through his last days.
As Dr. August mentioned in a 2017 interview with Immunomic:
“It’s the joy of discovery, the excitement and stimulus of working with very complex biological systems. It is really a lot of fun to tackle serious problems, such as influenza, and is enormously rewarding, emotionally and intellectually when there are experimental advances. There’s still a world of things to be done. I tell my fellow workers that the best thing they can do is a good experiment where they find something that isn’t what they expected. Everything we read in scientific journals or hearing about in seminars is already known. But if you are doing experiments based on your hypothesis, or if you find something you didn’t expect, it is a discovery, something that only you know. And if you are really lucky, it could turn out to be very important.”
For everyone who knew and worked with Dr. August, he was truly an incredible human being. He was brilliant and dedicated. His deep and never-ending passion for science continued throughout his days. Dr. August will forever be remembered and certainly will be missed, but his contributions will live on.
See below for the full interview with Dr. J. Thomas August.
Joseph Thomas August graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951; M.D., 1954), and trained in medicine as the Resident House Physician to Sir Stanley Davidson, Royal Infirmary, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Medical Resident, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston; and Research Fellow in medicine under Prof. George Thorn, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His early academy appointments included Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine; Associate Professor of Medicine, assigned to Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine; and Siegfried Ullman Professor of Molecular Biology, Chairman, Department of Molecular Biology, and Director, Division of Biological Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Research during these years began at New York University as a fellow under B. Horecker and G. Hurwitz on the purification and characterization of the RNA dependent RNA polymerase of RNA bacteriophage. In 1972, as a Visiting Professor on sabbatical with Prof. R. Porter, Department of Biochemistry, Oxford University, and working with Dr. Mette Strand, they were the first to purify and characterize the envelope protein of retroviruses and to map its antigenic structure. This was followed by several years of research with other retroviral proteins under the auspices of the NIH Special Virus Cancer Program.
You have had a very impressive career.
Who helped or influenced you to get where you are now?
I was born and raised in southern California. My parents had immigrated from Austro-Hungary, and I was the youngest of six children. My four older brothers were early models, each a graduate of the University of California or Stanford. In 1947, after being drafted and serving in the Army during World War II, I enrolled in Stanford University and graduated with an M.D. degree, Alpha Omega Alpha, in 1954.
My post-graduate training and appointments, both in clinical medicine and medical research were extensive and including close associations with several renowned clinicians and scientists:
1955 - 1956
Resident House Physician to Sir Stanley Davidson, Royal Infirmary, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
1956 - 1957
Medical Resident, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston
1957 - 1959
Research Fellow in Medicine under Prof. George Thorn, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Research Fellow, American Heart Association
1959 - 1960
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine
Markle Scholar in Medical Sciences
1961 - 1963
Associate Professor of Medicine, assigned to Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine with Professors Bernard Horecker and Gerard Hurwitz
1963 - 1968
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1968 - 1975
Siegfried Ullman Professor of Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1971
Visiting Professor, Biochemistry, Oxford University, with Prof. R. Porter; Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Fellow Balliol College, Oxford University
1972
Chairman, Department of Molecular Biology; Director, Division of Biological Sciences
1975 - present
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
1975 - 1999
Professor and Director, Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
1975 - present
Professor, Department of Oncology
2001 - 2003
Director, Johns Hopkins Singapore Biomedical Centre
2001 - present
University Distinguished Service Professor
The defining moments in my research career were occasions of discovery:
1958
Human metabolic response to the mineralocorticoid aldosterone
1965
RNA-dependent RNA polymerase
1974
Multiple antigenic determinants of oncogenic virus proteins
1985
The lysosome-associated membrane protein (LAMP)
1995
LAMP targeting of proteins to MHC class II and enhanced activation of CD4 helper T cells
2000
LAMP enhanced vaccines
What was a defining moment in your early career?
“I was serving my residency in Boston. I had just rotated to a surgical service, and we had a patient who was being treated for experiencing blackouts at night. The director of surgery thought it was a vascular problem and operated on her brain. I went through the patient’s records and saw that she’d had a diaphragmatic sarcoma for 20 years. During my first night on her service, she passed out and I gave her a little bit of sugar. She woke up immediately, knew what had happened, and said, “bless you, my son.” I went to the library and collected research to back up what I’d done. When the director of surgery was doing rounds with a bunch of students, residents and interns, I showed him my research and told him what I’d done. He was furious that I was challenging his diagnosis and almost kicked me out, but a young assistant professor, Howie Hyatt saved me.”
In 1976, Dr. August was appointed Director of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine on the recommendation of a search committee chaired by Prof. Alber L. Lehninger, joining the distinguished faculty that included Drs. Paul Talalay, Solomon Snyder, Joseph Coyle, Donald Coffey, Cecil Robinson, Ernst Bueding and Paul Lietman. Molecular biology and virology became a new focus of the department with the appointments of Drs. Diane and Gary Hayward, Wade Gibson, Mette Strand, Ronald Schnaar and James Hildreth.
The focus of August’s research at Johns Hopkins included the use of monoclonal antibodies to identify cellular proteins, including the discovery in 1980 of a family of lysosome-associated membrane proteins (LAMP). Several laboratories, with antibodies to LAMP, showed its colocalization with the major histocompability class II protein that acts to deliver the antigenic peptide units (epitopes) of proteins to helper (CD4) T-cells. This finding prompted the development of DNA vaccines encoding antigen proteins as LAMP chimeras in order to target and enhance the delivery of antigens to the helper T-cell pathway. This research continues novel epitope-based vaccines to several viral pathogens, including HIV, dengue, influenza, West Nile, and others.
How did you discover LAMP?
“Following on the research initiated at Oxford with Prof. R. Porter and the move to Johns Hopkins, I continued the use of monoclonal antibody technology for protein discovery and characterization. Among many that we discovered, one of particular interest turned out to be the lysosome-associated membrane protein (LAMP). This turned out to be a protein that was co-localized with the major histocompability class II protein (MHCII) of specialized antigen presenting cells that deliver the antigenic peptide units (epitopes) of pathogens to helper (CD4) T-cells. This finding prompted our development of DNA vaccines encoding pathogen protein sequences as LAMP chimeras in order to target and enhance the delivery of antigens to helper T-cells, a critical element in the immune response to pathogens. This research continues, with the synthesis and characterization of novel epitope-based vaccines to proteins of several pathogens, with the goal of major advances in vaccine development for humanitarian applications.”
We’ve heard you say you’ll never retire.
Why is that?
What inspires you to continue researching and teaching?
“It’s the joy of discovery, the excitement and stimulus of working with very complex biological systems. It is really a lot of fun to tackle serious problems, such as influenza, and is enormously rewarding, emotionally and intellectually when there are experimental advances. There’s still a world of things to be done. I tell my fellow workers that the best thing they can do is a good experiment where they find something that isn’t what they expected. Everything we read in scientific journals or hearing about in seminars is already known. But if you are doing experiments based on your hypothesis, or if you find something you didn’t expect, it is a discovery, something that only you know. And if you are really lucky, it could turn out to be very important.”
Dr. August’s honors include appointments as a Markley Scholar in Medical Sciences; Career Scientist, Health Research Council of New York; Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford University, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, National University of Singapore, and an R37 NIAID Merit Award for HIV vaccine research.
Do you have any upcoming projects we should look out for?
“A colleague and I recently disclosed a research path to Johns Hopkins. We’re hoping to get it approved within the year. We are building the constructs to be tested in animals. There’s a lot of hope for our future success. A year from now, I want to be working with a vaccine that helps people, not just one that works in experimental or model systems.”
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