This puzzle, constructed and clued in collaboration with the incomparable Charles Deber, paid tribute to Professor JAMES P. TAM (67-Across) of Nanyang Technical University in SINGAPORE (17-Across), on the occasion of his receipt this year of the MERRIFIELD AWARD (7-Down), the highest honor of the American Peptide Society. Click here for Tam's scientific biography and the abstract of his award lecture [taken from Biopolymers Peptide Science]. Note within the aforementioned page the mention of puzzle words like HERBALOMICS (8-Down), (peptide) ANTIBIOTIC(s) (34-Down), and (peptide) DENDRIMERS (3-Down), as well as the term "Deconstruct" which was incorporated into the puzzle's title. Tam received his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in Madison under the mentorship of DANIEL H. RICH (25-Down), himself a past recipient of the Merrifield Award. During the late 1970s, Tam and I overlapped in the Merrifield lab at The Rockefeller University, and I always admired his creativity, hard work, and organization of group outings to Chinatown.
Below are several photos that you might enjoy, thanks to Garland Marshall, Libby Merrifield, Alex Mitchell, and Dan Rich.
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Left photo: (L to R) D.H. Rich, J.P. Tam, and the new Mrs. Tam (1972). Middle photo: RBM and JT cooking hamburgers during a lab party at the Merrifield homestead in Cresskill (1985). Right photo: Tam, Chuan-fa Liu, and RBM in the boss's office on the 4th floor of Flexner Hall at The Rockefeller University. |
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4th Floor Flexner conference room, circa April 1977. Seated (L to R): Svetlana Mojsov, Maurise Gray (behind SM), Alexander R. Mitchell, Martin Engelhard, Henry Wood, Balz Gisin. Standing (L to R): George Barany, James Tam, Irwin Chu, Stephen B.H. Kent, Bruce Merrifield, mystery (worked with BWE), Bruce Erickson (behind mystery), Denise Gleason, Mike Prystowsky, Anita Bach, Roland Koestler, Mark W. Riemen. |
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