Linda Amos (1943-2021)
It is with overwhelming sadness that I have to let you know that Linda Amos died on Sunday, 21st February after a severe non-COVID pneumonia.
Linda was at the LMB from 1968 until only three years ago, having been a Group Leader in the Structural Studies Division from 1978 to 2009. Having originally been recruited as a FORTRAN programmer, Linda worked with Aaron Klug, David deRosier and Tony Crowther on image reconstruction methods from electron micrographs. She completed a PhD with Aaron in 1975 and, with her new group, in 1978 started to focus on microtubules and molecular motor proteins such as kinesin and dynein. Her group made important contributions to our understanding of microtubule structure, the reaction mechanism of kinesin and paved the way for deciphering dynein's mechanisms.
I started as a postdoc with Linda in 1996. I will never forget how Linda very gently made me aware of the first hints of tubulins (and later actins) in bacteria and archaea: casually, printouts of the relevant papers would appear on my keyboard, to be absorbed and acted upon. Over the years, I have been in constant awe of Linda's sometimes uncanny ability to get things right very early on, for example how Taxol inhibits the only now fully accepted conformational switch in tubulin, to make microtubules stable.
Her sincere generosity meant that great things were happening around her. But maybe it also meant that, in combination with her long battle with MS, it contributed to the fact that she did not enjoy the scientific recognition that I would like to suggest she deserved.
Linda leaves behind two sons and her husband, Brad Amos - and a most impressive legacy in electron microscopy and fundamental molecular aspects of the cytoskeleton, both eukaryotic and prokaryotic.
LMB's obituary can be found here.
Linda with our group in 2006 and in 2014.
Jan
It is with overwhelming sadness that I have to let you know that Linda Amos died on Sunday, 21st February after a severe non-COVID pneumonia.
Linda was at the LMB from 1968 until only three years ago, having been a Group Leader in the Structural Studies Division from 1978 to 2009. Having originally been recruited as a FORTRAN programmer, Linda worked with Aaron Klug, David deRosier and Tony Crowther on image reconstruction methods from electron micrographs. She completed a PhD with Aaron in 1975 and, with her new group, in 1978 started to focus on microtubules and molecular motor proteins such as kinesin and dynein. Her group made important contributions to our understanding of microtubule structure, the reaction mechanism of kinesin and paved the way for deciphering dynein's mechanisms.
I started as a postdoc with Linda in 1996. I will never forget how Linda very gently made me aware of the first hints of tubulins (and later actins) in bacteria and archaea: casually, printouts of the relevant papers would appear on my keyboard, to be absorbed and acted upon. Over the years, I have been in constant awe of Linda's sometimes uncanny ability to get things right very early on, for example how Taxol inhibits the only now fully accepted conformational switch in tubulin, to make microtubules stable.
Her sincere generosity meant that great things were happening around her. But maybe it also meant that, in combination with her long battle with MS, it contributed to the fact that she did not enjoy the scientific recognition that I would like to suggest she deserved.
Linda leaves behind two sons and her husband, Brad Amos - and a most impressive legacy in electron microscopy and fundamental molecular aspects of the cytoskeleton, both eukaryotic and prokaryotic.
LMB's obituary can be found here.
Linda with our group in 2006 and in 2014.
Jan