Why is this man missing???

As reported by the Associated Press and various media since 22 November, 2001, a prominent American scientist is missing from Memphis, Tennessee where he had been an attendant at the annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.  The FBI has admitted concern over the mysterious disappearance of this world-renowned biochemist, Dr. Don C. Wiley, of Harvard University, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and key figure in research which supports virology and the growing field of emerging diseases. His rental car was found on November 16th on a bridge in Memphis with a full tank of gas and the keys in the ignition.   According to his wife and sister-in-law, he was due to meet family in Memphis that day and his disappearance is out of character.  He is a father of four, including two children ages 7 and 10 by his second and current wife.

Dr. Wiley's Research In the webpage overview of his recent research, dated 5 November 2001, Dr. Wiley describes work which pertains both to issues of human  immune processes and viral activity which can be manipulated to work around the immune system response.  His work on HIV-1 has been funded in part by a grant from the National Institute of Health.  His recent work also involved production methods for the soluble trimer (three-part molecule) of a glycoprotein associated with SIV-1, the simian (monkey) equivalent of HIV, thought to be the viral cause of AIDS in humans.  This research serves the need to fully understand the eternal tango of viruses and the human immune system. Dr. Wiley's webpage, evidently written as a bio for peer review or potential research assistants and graduate students, included no practical explanation of his work.   His disappearance is more significant due to his extensive research in the borderland of viruses such as Ebola. Not a virologist himself, Dr. Wiley nonetheless provides many clues which accelerate research of viral behavior and cell components through his specialty, chrystallography, an obscure photographic analysis of the chemical processes in cells. According to AP reports, the Memphis office of the FBI has so far declined to spearhead the investigation into Dr. Wiley's disappearance due to no evidence that  this is any more than a missing person case, but they have offered to lend any support requested to the Memphis police. With all due consideration to possible relatedness to recent national events and to Dr. Wiley's unique expertise, the case is sure to continue to be of interest until a satisfactory explanation emerges.

LINKS:

Dr. Wiley's professional bio: www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/wiley.html

To see media reports, do a search for "Don Wiley" in the search window: http://news.yahoo.com

Disappearance out of character for happy, successful scientist-- www.boston.com/ (check for updates in the Boston Globe)

Page revised: 29 November 2001

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