Roger W. HendrixUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGHMicrobiologist and University of Pittsburgh distinguished professor Roger W. Hendrix passed away last month (August 15) at 74. His basic research investigating the structure of bacteriophages and how they usurp their bacterial hosts was a “huge contributor to what we understand about how life works,” Hendrix’s wife Susan Godfrey tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Throughout his lengthy career, Hendrix authored more than 100 publications investigating bacteriophages, their evolution, and how they inform fundamental questions about proteins and bacteria, the Post-Gazette reports. He pioneered assays that allowed scientists a better understating of how viruses assemble and collected multiple accolades for his contributions to the field, according to the University of Pittsburgh’s University Times, including a National Academy of Sciences award in 2009.
“Roger was an outstanding researcher and prolific contributor to the literature in microbiology,” molecular biologist James Pipas of the University of Pittsburgh tells the University Times. He “did his job brilliantly, and helped other people do their jobs. He was amazing,” Godfrey tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
After obtaining a biology degree in biology from Caltech, Hendrix went on ...
