Biography of Michael Lieber      [Back]

Dr. Michael Lieber comes from a distinguished family of musicians, scientists, intellectuals, and religious leaders. On his mother side of the family, there were generations of rabbis, and the composer, Gustav Mahler, was a family member. 

Dr. Lieber’s father, Paul, was a distinguished scientist who made significant contributions to aeronautical engineering, hydrodynamics, and geophysics, with important implications for earthquake prediction, and who had among his friends, Hans Albert Einstein, the son of Albert Einstein.

With this stimulating background, Michael became interested in science at an early age. At the age of 14, he developed, with the encouragement of his father, a cosmology which turned out to be similar to that of the esteemed paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin. This cosmology of the young Michael became the inspiration for and guiding spirit of his later research in science.

Having majored in science and mathematics in secondary school, he proceeded to the University of California at Berkeley. His formal studies concentrated on biology, social science and philosophy, while studying physics on his own. He graduated with a B.A. in anthropology.

During his senior year at Berkeley, he wrote an original thesis on human evolution. It was very well received by the physical anthropologist, W. Howells. Through the writing of this thesis, he decided to pursue a research career in genetics. To be trained in such, he became a graduate student at the Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh in Scotland. This Institute was under the direction of the world-renowned geneticist and embryologist, C. H. Waddington. During his stimulating studies there, Michael wrote a thesis on mutation, development, and evolution. Professor Waddington, referring to the thesis, said it represented very imaginative thinking. 

Michael completed his studies in Edinburgh, having received the postgraduate Diploma in Animal genetics, comparable to the American Masters’ degree. Michael then proceeded to the University of Sheffield in England where he studied for his Ph.D. under the direction of J. A. Roper, one of the pioneers of fungal genetics. His research on the genetic control of mutation in a fungus led to results very similar to those of the Nobel Laureate, Barbara McClintock. She had studied mutators in corn and was the discoverer of genetic control systems of mutation in corn, involving the so-called “jumping genes”, as coined by the press.

His thesis was accepted and Michael was awarded a Ph.D. in genetics. Articles based on his thesis were later published. Moreover, a paper based on his research was delivered before the International Congress of Genetics, held in Pisa, Italy, in 1969. In response, attendees at the Conference said of the described research that it represented the most important work done in mutation during the last ten years. Dr. McClintock, referring to Dr. Lieber’s published work said, in a personal letter, that she “recognized its importance.”

After leaving Sheffield, he obtained a research position in the laboratory of Max Delbruck, a Nobel Laureate at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In Professor Delbruck’s lab, Michael continued his research on mutation in fungi. Leaving Caltech, he obtained a position in microbiology at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, in Chicago.

There, he investigated the mutagenic effects of the bacteriophage P1 on a bacteria genome, which led to some revolutionary discoveries, and which opened up a whole new sub-discipline of mutation research. In so doing, he also demonstrated that molecular explanations of certain phenomena pertaining to genetic change or genomic instability are very limited. 

In this regard, Salvador Luria---a former collaborator of Delbruck’s---who also worked with P1, was the Ph.D. advisor of the person who directed the lab in which these new discoveries were made, and which demonstrated the limitation of the molecular or reductionist approach to genetics, such an approach having been the focus of Delbruck’s and Luria’s pioneering research in molecular genetics. By the way, James Watson, who predicted the correct structure of DNA, and who also obtained his Ph.D. under Luria, corresponded extensively with Delbruck on DNA’s structure. So, there is a bit of historical irony here in the history of science.

Completing his research in Chicago, Dr. Lieber returned to the University of California at Berkeley as a Research Associate in the laboratory of Alan Wilson, the distinguished evolutionist. In that position, Dr. Lieber continued to make important contributions, showing the significance of certain types of genetic mutators in karyotypic and morphological evolution, the later being based on karyotypic evolution. 

Since his early youth, Michael was always interested in horticulture and had acquired a great deal of expertise in the subject. Consequently, he wanted to enter plant- genetics research using plant-tissue techniques. He did so in the Department of Botany at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.. There, he made important breakthroughs, overcoming recalcitrant organogenesis in the tissue culture of pine, an important step towards creating transgenic pine via tissue-culture methods.

Returning to the University of California, he was a Research Geneticist in the Department of Plant Pathology. Again, he made significant contributions, among which, overcoming recalcitrant organogenesis in the green bean via bean callus, a neoplastic tissue. This approach was based on the application of a method stemming from a revolutionary cosmological theory described in some of his publications. Related to this, he was involved in the creation of important transgenic plants.

He retired from a “hands-on-research” career, “at the bench”, but is still involved in various ways with research, exploring and writing extensively on various scientific subjects. He has a significant number of important publications to his credit, including two recent publications.

Currently, Dr. Lieber is working at the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, an organization which helps disabled people become independent. Among his functions there, he has assisted a homeless man in his lawsuit for malpractice against a county hospital. In the course of which, Dr. Lieber has written in behalf of this man several motions for the court and has recently written---with very little assistance---and has submitted, two briefs to the California Court of Appeals, also in behalf of that man. One lawyer on the staff, referring to one of these briefs, said it was excellent.

In preparing such legal materials, Dr. Lieber has acquired a great deal of legal experience and has demonstrated a facility for legal practice, essentially all self-taught. At this stage in life, he is even considering law school.

Throughout his life, Dr. Lieber has worked and corresponded with, and has been appreciated by, several distinguished scientists. One of these, for example, Dr. Albert Szent Gorgyi, a Nobel Laureate and the discoverer of ascorbic acid, has shown appreciation of Dr. Lieber’s contribution. In a letter to Dr. Lieber, a neurobiologist, Professor Kurt Heininger, wrote, “Your work has been a persistent inspiration to me.” 

In a letter of recommendation for Dr. Lieber, Emeritus Professor Richard Strohman of the University of California, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology wrote of Dr. Lieber:

“At this stage in his career, I see Michael as creatively guiding and inspiring the research efforts of others, bringing to bear his depth of scientific experience and insight, as well as his empathy and integrity.

“Michael has a mind that should not be wasted and future scientific progress would benefit greatly from the application of such a mind.

“Thus, I highly recommend Michael for any scientific endeavor he chooses pertaining to genetics and developmental biology.”

Dr. Lieber has had a broad and diversified career. Through such, he has come to appreciate the value and significance of his contributions to science, and thus to humanity. This has given him an inner stability and peace of mind, and a deep sense of his value, from which others have and will benefit. 

Michael M. Lieber, Ph.D. can be contacted at Genadyne Consulting:

Phone: (510) 526-4224
E-mail:  michaellieber@juno.com   
URL MichaelLieber.com

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SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES and REPORTS by MICHAEL LIEBER

Biotechnology and the Dynamic of Completion

Bacteriophage Research: Its Deeper Significance for Science

Modern Man in Potential: Human Evolution As Viewed from a New Perspective

Lieber, P. and Lieber, M. A Report on the Beneficial Effects of Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation on Drosophila Adaptation to Insecticidal Stress. 1974. University of California, Berkeley.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Location of Pyro12 in Aspergillus nidulans. Aspergillus News Letter, no. 12 (1975a).  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Generation of Genetic Changes in Diploids of Aspergillus nidulans with a Chromosome Segement in Triplicate. Science of Biology Journal, vol 1 (1975b) no. 3, 67-70.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Environmental and Genetic Factors Affecting Chromosomal Instability at Mitosis in Aspergillus nidulans and the Importance of Chromosomal Instability in the Evolution of Developmental Systems. Evolutionary Theory, vol. 1 (1975c), 97-104.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Observations on Forced Heterokaryons in Phycomyces. Caltech. Ann. Rev. of Biology (1975d), 25-26.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Effects of Temperature on Genetic Instability in Aspergillis nidulans. Mutation Research, vol. 34 (1976a), 93-122.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Genetic and Mutagenetic Interaction of Chromosomal Duplications Present Together in Haploid Strains of Aspergillus nidulans. Mutation Research, vol. 37 (1976b), 33-66.  [Back] 

Cherry, L., Lieber, M. and Wilson, A. Phylogenetic Analysis of Chromosomal Evolution in Vertebrates. A Report submitted to the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences USA (1978).  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Culturing of Callus Derived from Pinus taeda: Environmental and Genetic Parameters. Faculty Activity Report (1980a), Department of Botany, North Carolina State University.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. New Developments on the Generation of Mutations in Escherichia coli. Abstract, Proceedings of the Genetic and Environmental Toxicology Association of Northern California (1980b).  [Back] 

Lieber, P., and Lieber, M. The Dynamical Interrelationships of the Universe. Monographs (1981-1982).  [Back] 

Lieber, P., and Lieber, M. Hierarchies of Biological Evolution. Speculations in Science and Technology, vol. 6 (1983a), no. 1, 37-39.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. and Persidok, T. Mutability in Escherichia coli K12 Enhanced by a P1-Plasmid and by Generalized Transduction. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, vol. 76 (1983b), no. 3, 493-499.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. In Vitro Propagation of Various Plant Species Using Tissue Culture Techniques: A Survey with Theoretical Considerations. Technical Report for the National Council on Gene Resources, (1985).  [Back] 

Lieber, M. New Developments on the Generation of Mutations in Escherichia coli Lysogens. Acta Microbiologica Hungarica, vol. 36 (1989), 377-413.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Mutagenesis as Viewed from Another Perspective. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, vol. 83-4 (1990), 513-522.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Adaptive Mutations and Biological Evolution. Frontier Perspectives, vol. 2 (summer 1991), no. 1, 23-26.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Role of Cohesive Forces in Generating Bud/Plantlet Development from Plant Neoplasms. Frontier Perspectives, vol. 4 (spring 1995), no. 2, 35-41.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Force, Development, and Neoplasia: Development from Another Perspective as Illustrated Through a Study of In Vitro Plant Development from Neoplasm. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, vol. 89 (1996), no. 2, 245-274. View Abstract PDF  [Back] 

Lieber, M. The Living Spiral. A Dimensionless Biological Constant Gives a New Perspective to Physics. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, vol 91 (1998a), no. 1, 91-118. View Abstract PDF  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Hypermutation as a Means to Globally Re-Stabilize the Genome Following Environmental Stress. Mutation Research, Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, vol. 421 (1998b), no. 2, 219-220. View Abstract     [Back] 

Lieber, M. Environmentally Responsive Mutator Systems: Toward a Unifying Perspective. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, vol. 91 (1998c), no. 3, 425-458. View Abstract PDF     [Back] 

Lieber, M. Diabetes Mellitus and Cancer. Frontier Perspectives, Vol. 8 (winter 1999), no. 2, 6.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Adaptively Responsive Hypermutation and Its Configurational-Based Regulation Due to Global Position Effect. Mutation Research, Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, vol. 449 (2000), nos. 1 & 2, 57-60.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Temporal Control of Environmentally Responsive Hypermutation Involving Cryptic Genes. Mutation Research, Fundamental & Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, vol. 473 (2001a), 255-257.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. Force and Genomic Change. Frontier Perspectives, Vol. 10 (spring 2001b), no. 1, 25-27.  [Back] 

Lieber, M. M. (2005). Introduction of foreign genetic material into a genome can lead to localized and non-localized mutation: Practical Ramifications. Frontier Perspectives, No. 2., 6-7.  [Back]

Lieber, M. M. (2006). Towards an understanding of the role of forces in carcinogenesis: A perspective with therapeutic implications. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum, No. 1, 131-160   [Back] 

Lieber, M.M. (2008), Modern Man in Potential: Human Evolution as Viewed from a New Perspective. Frontier Perspectives Vol. 16, No. 2: 4-5.        [Back]  [TOP]                       

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