Garland R. Marshall
Name: Garland R. Marshall
Birthday: April 16, 1940
College: Caltech, B.S. Biology, 1962
Ph.D.: Rockefeller University, 1966
Mentor: R. Bruce Merrifield, Nobel Laureate, 1984
First Appointment: Instructor, Physiology & Biophysics, WUSM, 1966
Current Appointments: Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Biomedical Engineering
Favorite Quote: “Mother Nature Never Shaved with Occam’s Razor”
Favorite activities besides research
•Marine Biology (SCUBA)
•Underwater and Nature Photography
•Mentoring Students in Research
•Gardening
•Skiing
Basic Research Philosophy
This is the best possible time to be a scientist! Modern technology has enabled us to tackle questions that were inconceivable only a generation ago. The basic problem is no longer which problem of interest do you address, but which of the many exciting ones do you ignore.
For me, molecular recognition has been the focus of my entire career. Applying the fundamentals of physics and chemistry to biological systems continues to be my passion. I am still frustrated that entropy remains a difficult problem to deal with both computationally and experimentally. To paraphrase the great Pogo, “I have met the enemy and it is entropy!”
Molecular modeling provides a tool with which to explore the dynamic behavior of recognition prior to experimental design. I believe in the prospective use of modeling to predict an experimental result rather than its retrospective use to rationalize something already observed.