Biographical Sketch – George M. Langford, 1994
George M. Langford was born August 26, 1944, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. He is married with three children and lives in Ena, New Hampshire. He received a BS degree in Biology in 1966 from Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, and an MS in 1969 and a Ph.D. in 1971 in Cell Biology from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, with Dr. William Danforth. He then did postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania in the Biophysical Cytology Program with Dr. Shinya Inoui. Since 1991, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College where he holds the Ernest Everett Just Chair in Natural Sciences and is an Adjunct Professor of Physiology in the Dartmouth Medical School. He has previously held positions at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, Howard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has served as Program Director of the Cell Biology Program at the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Langford has devoted much of his research career to the study of intracellular motility where he has published a book review and over 29 peer-reviewed articles. Most recently, his publications have centered on the movement of axoplasmic organelles. He has fascinated his colleagues and audiences with his work in video microscopy, demonstrating his observations of intracellular motion using trajectories with and without visible tracks, and analysis of gliding, fishtailing, circling motions of microtubules and actin-dependent movements. His work was featured in an article in Mosaic, a publication of the National Science Foundation, entitled “The Engines Within Cells.”
Dr. Langford was the Chair of the Minority Affairs Committee of the American Society of Cell Biology from 1985 -1990 and currently serves on the Society’s Council as Secretary. He was a member of the Organizing Committee (Vice-President) for the Sixth International Congress on Cell Biology that was held in 1996. In addition, he is a member of several other professional societies, the MBL Board of Trustees, and the editorial board of Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton.
About the Author:
Ashanti Edwards is ASCB's Director of Professional Development.
