M. Daniel Lane

{{Short description|American biochemist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = M. Daniel Lane | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = 1930 | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, US | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|04|10|1930||}} | death_place = Baltimore, Maryland, US | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | fields = Biochemistry | workplaces = Johns Hopkins School of Medicine | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = Iowa State University, University of Illinois | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Studies of lipogenesis and adipogenesis | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Malcolm Daniel Lane''' (1930 – April 10, 2014) was an American biochemist who spent most of his career on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Lane served as the head of the Department of Biological Chemistry from 1978 to 1997, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1987, and was named a University Distinguished Service Professor – the institution's highest academic title – in 2001. Lane's research focused on the biochemistry of lipids and lipid metabolism, and the resulting physiological mechanisms regulating adipogenesis and obesity.<ref name="hopkins">{{cite web|title=Obituary for M. Daniel Lane, Sr.|url=http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/obituary_for_m_daniel_lane_sr|website=Johns Hopkins Medicine|accessdate=March 9, 2017|date=April 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="mandrup">{{cite journal|last1=Mandrup|first1=Susanne|last2=MacDougald|first2=Ormond A.|last3=Moss|first3=Joel|last4=Ntambi|first4=James|last5=Pekala|first5=Phillip|last6=Tang|first6=Qi-Qun|last7=Wolfgang|first7=Michael|last8=Bernlohr|first8=David A.|title=In memoriam: M. Daniel Lane, 1930–2014|journal=Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism|date=September 2014|volume=25|issue=9|pages=437–439|doi=10.1016/j.tem.2014.06.013|pmc=4189177|pmid=25084731}}</ref><ref name="raben">{{cite journal|last1=Raben|first1=D. M.|title=In Memoriam: M. Daniel Lane (1930-2014)|journal=The Journal of Lipid Research|date=May 27, 2014|volume=55|issue=8|pages=1551–1552|doi=10.1194/jlr.E051532 |doi-access=free |pmc=4109753}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Lane was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 10, 1930, to Malcolm Daniel Lane Snr, an accountant at the Herald Tribune and Helga Wilke who was of Danish origin. He attended Iowa State University and received his B.S. in 1951 and his M.S. in 1953. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1956.<ref name=hopkins /><ref name=raben />

==Academic career== Lane began his faculty career immediately after finishing his Ph.D. with an appointment as an associate professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he advanced to full professor in 1963. After a brief sabbatical in Munich, Germany to work with Feodor Lynen, he moved from Virginia Tech to the New York University School of Medicine in 1964. Lane was recruited to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine by Albert Lehninger, chair of what was then known at the Department of Physiological Chemistry, in 1970. Lane subsequently succeeded Lehninger as department chair in 1978, changing the department's name to Biological Chemistry, and served in that position until 1997.<ref name=hopkins /><ref name=mandrup /><ref name=raben />

At Johns Hopkins, Lane taught metabolism and metabolic biochemistry to medical students from his arrival in the department until 2006, and was well known for his teaching skills.<ref name=hopkins /><ref name=mandrup /><ref name=raben /> He was also noted as an enthusiastic mentor of younger scientists, including support for the young laboratory of future Nobel Prize winner Peter Agre.<ref name=hopkins /> He served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including a stint as executive editor of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications in 1986. He held various leadership roles in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, most notably serving as the society's president in 1990.<ref name="kresge">{{cite journal|last1=Kresge|first1=Nicole|last2=Simoni|first2=Robert D.|last3=Hill|first3=Robert L.|title=Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase and Other Biotin-dependent Enzymes: the Work of M. Daniel Lane|journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry|date=December 8, 2006|volume=281|issue=49|page=e40|doi=10.1016/S0021-9258(20)71987-3 |url=http://www.jbc.org/content/281/49/e40.short|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Lane retired from his faculty position, assuming professor emeritus status, in 2008.<ref name=hopkins />

==Research== In the early phases of his career, Lane was primarily interested in vitamins and vitamin metabolism, particularly in biotin-dependent enzymes such as propionyl-CoA carboxylase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase, which he studied in and purified from calf and chicken livers. This work was later recognized as classic in the field by the ''Journal of Biological Chemistry''.<ref name=kresge /> His interest in vitamins and nutrition led him to focus later on lipogenesis and its regulation. Lane's laboratory published widely cited early studies of the insulin receptor and made extensive use of the 3T3-L1 cell line for investigating cellular differentiation processes leading to adipocytes. After the discovery of the satiety-regulating hormone leptin, Lane's laboratory focused its efforts on characterizing its regulation.<ref name=mandrup /><ref name=raben />

==Personal life== Lane met and married his wife Patricia during his time at Iowa State. The couple had two children Danny Lane and Claudia Lane. Lane was an enthusiastic fisherman who enjoyed fishing and boating on the Chesapeake Bay. He was involved in local social justice and environmental activism.<ref name=mandrup /><ref name=raben /> Lane died of myeloma on April 10, 2014.<ref name=hopkins />

==Awards and honors== * Received the American Institute of Nutrition's Mead-Johnson Award, 1966<ref name=raben /> * Received the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's William C. Rose Award, 1981<ref name=raben /> * Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1982<ref name=hopkins /> * Received the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Professor's Award for Distinction in Teaching, 1986<ref name=raben /> * Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 1987<ref name="nas">{{cite web|title=M. Daniel Lane|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/15532.html|website=National Academy of Sciences Member Directory|accessdate=March 9, 2017}}</ref> * Received a National Institutes of Health MERIT award, 1990<ref name=raben /> * Elected to the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, 1996<ref name=hopkins /> * Named Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Service Professor, 2001<ref name=hopkins />

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, M. Daniel}} Category:American biochemists Category:Iowa State University alumni Category:University of Illinois System alumni Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty Category:American people of Danish descent Category:Scientists from Chicago Category:1930 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Deaths from multiple myeloma in Maryland