The following is another post in our series highlighting the collections that are being processed through the NHPRC Basic Processing Grant.Winship Herr was born in 1958 in New Haven, CT. In 1974, he obtained his A.B. (Biology) at University of California at Santa Cruz and received his PhD from Harvard University in 1982 for studies on recombinant retroviruses in leukemogenic mice with Walter Gilbert. After postdoctoral studies with Frederick Sanger in Cambridge, England and then with Joe Sambrook at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, he joined the CSHL faculty in 1984. After achieving the rank of Senior Scientist, he served as assistant director of the Laboratory from 1994-2002 and from 1998-2004 was the founding Dean of the Watson School of Biological Sciences, a doctoral degree-granting school. In 2004, he joined the Center for Integrative Genetics in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Winship Herr Collection is comprised mainly of material generated from 1991 to 1994. At CSHL, Dr. Herr’s work focused on the mechanics of transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes utilizing two cellular proteins, Oct-1 and Oct-2 and a herpes simplex protein, VP16.
Dr. Herr’s work is clearly sophisticated and his methodology as meticulous and thorough as one would expect from an esteemed senior scientist and his lab at CSHL.
However, even the best scientists cannot predict when inspiration strikes and must use whatever is at hand to record their findings. Seen here is a note on the Oct-1 and Oct-2 proteins, written on an everyday paper towel.