Interview with Robert G. Shulman

Abstract

Abstract Robert G. Shulman is the Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Columbia in physical chemistry, with an intervening period as Lt(jg) USNR. Soon after graduate studies with C. H. Townes in microwave spectroscopy, he went to Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he started Nuclear Magnetic Resonance research on antiferromagnetics; superconductors; semiconductors; and, eventually, biomolecules. A year working with F. H. C. Crick and S. Brenner on phage genetics solidified his interest in biophysics. He started and led biophysics research at Bell Labs, where he studied a variety of biomolecules by NMR. This led him to in vivo NMR, at first in microorganisms; then animals; and, finally, humans. Since 1979 he has been at Yale University, where he has been following metabolism in vivo by magnetic resonance in brain and muscle measuring changes during activation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine.