David J. DeRosier

David J. DeRosier is an American biophysicist known for developing methods to reconstruct three-dimensional structures from electron micrographs. Working with Aaron Klug in the late 1960s, he produced the first three-dimensional reconstruction from electron microscope images, using the tail of a bacteriophage as the test structure. This work laid the groundwork for techniques used decades later in cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography. DeRosier spent most of his career at Brandeis University, where he studied the structure of bacterial flagella, actin filaments, and related cytoskeletal assemblies. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of several scientific societies.

Early life and education DeRosier was born on February 22, 1939, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.