Frederick Rudolph biochemistry academic papers

Frederick B. Rudolph was a ground-breaking researcher and a devoted educator in biochemistry who was hired to teach at Rice University in 1972. He died in the midst of his customary activities at the university in 2003 at the age of 58.

Fred Rudolph’s most far-reaching research concerned the enzyme adenosine desminase. It was reported in the June 2, 1991 issue of the journal Science. Working with two colleagues, Rudolph found that an immune deficiency occurred when this enzyme, normally present in all body cells, was missing from B and T lymphocytes, cells of the immune system located in the blood, spleen, and thymus. One important outcome of this discovery is that it led every major producer of infant formula worldwide to add what the work showed is necessary for development of a strong immune system.

As an educator, Fred Rudolph was not only an effective teacher of his own courses, but also a leader in curriculum development nationally. For multiple years he was involved as a workshop leader in Project Kaleidoscope, an informal national alliance of individual institutions and organizations committed to strengthening undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education.

He was also a participant in numerous inter-institutional activities with the Texas Medical Center, among them the Rice-Baylor College of Medicine Planning Committee, which sponsored a pathway for qualified students to be admitted to Baylor College of Medicine after successful completion of a specified sequence of Rice courses.

Rudolph’s efforts as an educator also reached out to pre-college-age young people. He established short summer residential programs offered at Rice to students in economically disadvantaged schools, both in Houston and in the Rio Grande Valley. The aim of these programs was to expose young people to the activity of laboratory research and to career possibilities in science and medicine.

In addition to work in his academic discipline, Rudolph made important contributions to the institutional life of Rice. He was a member and then chair of the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee for more than two decades.