Wiley JON CHASE/HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Wiley was well known for his work on the structure and biochemical functions of membrane glycoproteins, and his group was seeking ways to fight viruses such as influenza, HIV, and Ebola.

"Don's death is a huge loss for science," observes HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. "He was in the prime of a spectacular career. His structures of influenza virus proteins taught us how the virus can attach to and enter human cells, and that has had a major impact in understanding how HIV and Ebola get into human cells. Equally important, his structure of the major histocompatibility complex bound to peptide put the field of cell-mediated immunity on a firm molecular footing."

Wiley was last seen in Memphis on the evening of Nov. 15, 2001, at a banquet held during the annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His rental car was found abandoned on a bridge over the Mississippi later that night. Wiley's body was recovered from the river near Vidalia, La., some 300 miles south of Memphis. The manner of death--accident, homicide, or suicide--has not yet been determined.

HHMI, which had provided major funding for the Wiley lab, is committed to working individually with the group's members to help facilitate the transition to the next phase of their careers, Cech says. For now, work in Wiley's lab is continuing under the guidance of HHMI investigator and Harvard biochemist Stephen C. Harrison, who shared some lab space and students with Wiley.

"Don's death is still a huge mystery and is hard for those of us who knew him to accept," Cech adds.

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