J. L. Oncley
University of Michigan
February 14, 1910 - July 14, 2004
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Scientific Discipline: Biophysics and Computational Biology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1947)
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Biophysicist J. Lawrence Oncley is credited with the discovery, isolation, or purification of multiple essential blood components, including high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). His work with these blood proteins clarified the method in which fatty acids are able to travel through the water-soluble blood stream. His work on the biochemical aspects of the circulatory system is fundamental to our understanding of blood cholesterol levels. He also made major contributions to immunology and is considered a founder of the science of biophysics.
Oncley attended Southwestern College while he was still in high school. In 1932 he earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin. He then moved to Boston to conduct research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1936 he began his research on the dielectric constant of proteins at Harvard University. In 1962 he became a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Michigan. The Biophysical Society elected him president from 1962 to 1963 and he served as editor of The Biophysical Journal from 1964 to 1967.
