Marjorie B. Lees papers

Marjorie B. (Berman) Lees (1923-2012), B.A., 1943, Hunter College, New York City, New York; M.S., 1945, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Ph.D., 1951, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a neurological researcher whose early work resulted in the discovery of a novel chloroform-methanol soluble protein in total lipid extracts of the brain. She continued to study myelin lipids and proteolipid protein through her career.

Lees was born in New York in 1923 and took her bachelor’s degree from Hunter College in New York City in 1943, having become interested in studies of the nervous system through experimentation on Xenopus. She held a United States Public Health Service pre-doctoral fellowship from 1947-1950 and a research assistantship at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received her M.S. at the University of Chicago, continuing her studies in neurology, working primarily with fish brains. After moving to Boston with her husband, Sydney, Lees pursued a Ph.D. in neurological science at Radcliffe College. After receiving her Ph.D., she held an American Cancer Society post-doctoral fellowship and also held positions at the McLean Hospital Research Laboratory.

Lees went to Dartmouth Medical School as a research associate in pharmacology in 1962. Between 1962 and 1966, when she left Dartmouth, she was promoted to senior research associate, a position which carried with it the rank of associate professor in the medical school. She moved back to Harvard Medical School after leaving Dartmouth and remained there for the rest of her professional career, first as a research associate and then as principal research associate in biological chemistry from 1966 to 1975. She was made a member of the faculty of Harvard Medical School in 1971. She worked as a biochemist in the Neurology Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1976-1994, as well as working as a biochemist at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center. Lees became a full professor of biochemistry at Harvard Medical School in 1985. In 1994, Lees was named professor emerita at Harvard Medical School; in 1999, she received the same title from the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Her work with biochemist Jordi Folch-Pi at Harvard University resulted in the discovery of a novel chloroform-methanol soluble protein. Lees studied proteolipid proteins (PLPs) for the rest of her career. She focused on neurochemistry with a particular emphasis on the structure and function of myelin, the insulating sheath made up of protein and fat that forms around nerves. She worked with medical graduate students and built a reputation as a mentor. She was a member of numerous professional societies including the American Society of Biological Chemists, the International Society of Neurochemistry, the American Society of Neurochemistry, the Society for Neuroscience, and the American Association of Neuropathologists.

Marjorie Berman married Sydney Lees in the late 1940s and the couple had four children: David, Andrew, Eliot, and Constance. David, Andrew, and Eliot survived their parents. Marjorie Berman Lees died in Newton, Massachusetts, in January 2012.