Hildegard Lamfrom

Hildegard Lamfrom was a German-American molecular biologist/biochemist. She helped develop one of the first in-vitro translation systems, using rabbit reticulocyte lysate to study protein synthesis (a process called translation) in a cell-free context.

Early life and education Lamfrom was born into a Jewish family in Augsburg, Germany, in 1922, the eldest of three sisters (Gertrude (Gert) Boyle and Eva). Her family fled Germany in 1937, when she was 15, and established themselves in Portland, Oregon. Her father, who had owned a shirt factory in Germany bought a small hat and cap company that the family grew into Columbia Sportswear. Her sister Gert Boyle would later run the company and become an entrepreneurial icon, later donating large amounts of money to cancer research in her sister's honor.

Hiledgard graduated from Grant High School in Portland. She earned a BA in biology from Reed and did research on avian malaria with Ralph Macy. From 1962 to 1965 she continued research on protein synthesis at the MRC Laboratory in Cambridge, England, working with Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner. She also was one of the well as the existence of polyribosomes (aka polysomes) (multiple ribosomes translating on the same mRNA). OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute provides Hildegard Lamfrom Research Scholar Awards to early-stage cancer researchers, with funding from an endowment established by her nephew, Tim Boyle, CEO of Columbia Sportswear, and his wife Mary. In 2010, her sister Gert Boyle gave an anonymous $100 million donation to the school in her sister's honor. Gert, Tim and Mary Boyle, donated $2.5 million to create the Hildegard Lamfrom Endowed Chair in Basic Science at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Hildegard is remembered as an influential mentor to young scientists, including Brian Druker. In 2014, Tim and Mary donated $10 million to the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) to create a mentorship fund in her honor.

Key publications