Leonard Herzenberg made one of the most significant discoveries in the scientific world because of sore eyes. A professor emeritus of genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Herzenberg was known internationally for his development of the first fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). The technology lets researchers detect cells—including stem cells—critical to advances in immunology, drug development and illness diagnoses.
Herzenberg died October 27 following a severe stroke. His wife and longtime colleague, biologist Leonore "Lee" Herzenberg, was at his side. He was 81.
In the late 1950s, Herzenberg was working at the National Institutes of Health when he was offered a job at Stanford as an assistant professor. He started his lab in a workspace in the applied physics building as the School of Medicine was moving from San Francisco to Palo Alto. Working to separate animal and human cells under a microscope was a tedious process, and when Herzenberg discovered that researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico had developed a machine to sort mouse cells, he applied what he learned from them to his own research. Drawing on what had first been built at Los Alamos in 1965, he created a prototype cell sorter that allows cells to be identified via fluorescent tags.
Herzenberg won a Kyoto Prize in 2006 for the technology that he said was as much a result of his wife's work as his own. The couple, known on campus as "Len and Lee," collaborated in their Stanford lab for more than 50 years. They met as undergraduates at Brooklyn College in New York and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2013.
According to Michael Snyder, professor and chair of genetics at Stanford, both Herzenbergs made a lasting contribution to the scientific world. "Len and Lee were partners at every level," he said. "Together they pioneered the science of immunology, especially the importance of the immune system's role in fighting disease. The FACS spurred a scientific revolution that has had a lasting impact around the world to this day."
The Herzenbergs attracted biologists, engineers, physicists and software developers to their lab, combining their interests in genetics and developments in technology and immunology. And they were staunch advocates for the equality of women in science and supported a variety of philanthropic causes, establishing a program to bring minority high school students from East Palo Alto to campus and introducing them to scientists and their work.
Lee Herzenberg is moving forward with the work she and her husband started so many years ago. "Of course, Len's input is irreplaceable," she said. "But the lab will continue and hopefully his magic will extend through me and others here."
In addition to his wife, Herzenberg is survived by his children, Berri Michel, Jana Herzen, Michael and Eric, and four grandchildren.
Julie Muller Mitchell, '79, is a writer in San Francisco.
