History of the Department of Cell Biology
The Early Years
Established in 1961 under the leadership of Harry Eagle, M.D., founding chair, Einstein’s Department of Cell Biology was one of four departments in the newly founded Division of Biology, which encompassed the fields of cell biology, genetics, developmental biology, and molecular biology.
Dr. Eagle was recruited from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he was chief of the Laboratory of Cell Biology. During these early years, Albert Einstein College of Medicine had already achieved a significant national presence with an excellent research core of traditional basic science departments, which included anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, and physiology, and many distinguished faculty.
The faculty leadership of that era, including Dr. Irving London, Dr. Sol Korey, and Dr. Alfred Gilman, realized that the emergence of genetics and molecular biology was driving a revolution in biology and recruited an influx of new faculty with fresh perspectives. The Ullmann Building was constructed to host the Department of Biology and others in the Division of Biology, as well as to expand the resources available to other Einstein departments.
Our Founding Chair
Dr. Eagle was a microbiologist and immunologist who shifted directions and became the most cited scientist in the world for his description of Eagle’s medium which allowed investigators to grow animal cells in vitro. His addition of penicillin and streptomycin to the culture medium also made it possible to carry out experiments with animal cells on the laboratory bench rather than in sterile hoods. This simple change in tissue culture practice had a profound impact, as it enabled technical approaches that were until then only practiced in bacteria genetics and bacteria molecular biology. Dr. Eagle also had an outstanding record as a science administrator, having reorganized and upgraded the entire National Cancer Institute, an integral part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was known for recruiting exceptional young scientists to the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Harry Eagle
Dr. Harry Eagle in his office at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Putting Einstein on the Map
While still at the NIH, Dr. Eagle decided that the best way to study the molecular biology of animal cells was to infect the cells with viruses, since the large amounts of viral proteins and nucleic acids produced during infection allowed study with the limited tools available at that time. Although not a virologist himself, Dr. Eagle recruited junior faculty who then applied this approach in their research.
Importantly, his first recruit was Jacob V. Maizel, Jr.,Ph.D., who shortly thereafter invented SDS gel electrophoresis and showed it could be used to separate and study proteins and nucleic acids purely based on size. The development of SDS gel electrophoresis was a technological breakthrough that enabled the faculty in Montefiore Einstein’s Department of Cell Biology and others to make new, often paradigm-changing discoveries.
These achievements put the Department of Cell Biology and other Einstein basic science departments on the map and attracted first-rate fellows and visiting scientists to the department and the college. Dr. Eagle also demanded a high level of communication and cooperation among the faculty, which he promoted by establishing shared common equipment rooms and core facilities.
Dr. Scharff, Dr. Eagle, Dr. Maizel, and Dr. Darnell in an undated photo.
To Present Day
The Department of Cell Biology moved to the Ullmann Building in 1964. In 1978, the department relocated again to its current location in the Chanin Institute for Cancer Research. Matthew D. Scharff, M.D., assumed the chairmanship in 1972 and served until 1983.
He was followed by Jonathan Warner, Ph.D., (1983-1998), and then by Arthur Skoultchi, Ph.D., in 1998. In November 2022, Ulrich G. Steidl, Ph.D., became the latest chair as the department entered a new phase of multidisciplinary integration and growth.
Since our inception, more than 200 graduate students have completed training in Einstein’s Department of Cell Biology, including more than 60 M.D./Ph.D.s, more than 160 Ph.D.s., and more than 400 postdoctoral fellows, who have made major contributions to science and medicine.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine Department of Cell Biology faculty in 2023.
