Stephen G. Hall
Encyclopedia
Birth and personal life
Stephen G. Hall was October 2, 1955 in Danbury, ConnecticutDanbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
in the United States. His mother and father divorced when he was around 5 years old and his mother moved with the children to Decatur, Georgia
Decatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
. His mother was a schoolteacher and moved the family to the Bethany Christian Mission Center http://www.bethanymission.org/school.htm in rural Bethany, Kentucky
Bethany, Kentucky
Bethany is a neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky located on Dixie Highway by Bethany Cemetery.- Geography :Bethany, Louisville is located at .-References:# -External links:*...
, where she taught for a number of years. The family finally settled in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
where he attended Sunnyslope High School
Sunnyslope High School
Sunnyslope High School is in the Glendale Union High School District in Phoenix, Arizona and offers courses for grades 9–12.-School Description:...
in Phoenix and entered the military after graduation. His mother still lives in Phoenix. His father died in 1984 at the age of 61. He is divorced and has full custody of his 3 children. At 6'3" and 225 lbs., he trained as a weightlifter and powerlifter for most of his adult life. At the age of 48, he had a personal best max bench press
Bench press
The bench press is an exercise of the upper body. For bodybuilding purposes, it is used to stimulate the pectorals, deltoids, and triceps. While on his or her back, the person performing the bench press lowers a weight to the level of the chest, then pushes it back up until the arm is straight...
of 455 lbs, a 545 lb deadlift
Deadlift
The deadlift is a weight training exercise where a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground from a stabilized, bent over position. It is one of the three canonical powerlifting exercises, along with the squat and bench press.-Overview:...
and a 225 lb standing biceps curl
Biceps curl
The biceps curl is any of a number of weight training exercises that target the biceps brachii muscle in order to develop one or more of the following attributes:*size*definition*strength*endurance*power...
. He trains extensively in combat sports including Muay Thai
Muay Thai
Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...
and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting...
.
Military service
He entered military service in 1973 and served in the Army National GuardArmy National Guard
Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Army National Guard is part of the National Guard and is divided up into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia operating under their respective governors...
and the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in Field Artillery
Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
as a section chief on the M109 howitzer
M109 howitzer
The M109 is an American-made self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s. It was upgraded a number of times to today's M109A6 Paladin...
late during the Vietnam Era
Vietnam Era
Vietnam Era is a term used by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to classify veterans of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Era is a considered to have begun in 1964 and ended in 1975. The U.S. Congress, U.S...
. Field artillery involvement during this time was primarily involved with Counter-insurgency
Counter-insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
operations http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA463835. He was also trained in special operations
Special operations
Special operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...
, close quarters combat and unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare is the opposite of conventional warfare. Where conventional warfare is used to reduce an opponent's military capability, unconventional warfare is an attempt to achieve military victory through acquiescence, capitulation, or clandestine support for one side of an existing...
prior to the formation of the United States Special Operations Command
United States Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command is the Unified Combatant Command charged with overseeing the various Special Operations Commands of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps of the United States Armed Forces. The command is part of the Department of Defense...
. He was honorably discharged as a Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
(E-5) in 1980, although he remained involved in intelligence analysis
Intelligence analysis
Intelligence analysis is the process of taking known information about situations and entities of strategic, operational, or tactical importance, characterizing the known, and, with appropriate statements of probability, the future actions in those situations and by those entities...
after his official separation from the military.
Academic career and research
He completed his B.S. in ChemistryChemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
from Grand Canyon University
Grand Canyon University
Grand Canyon University is a for-profit Christian university located in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Grand Canyon Education . GCU was founded in 1949 as a non-profit liberal arts college. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. purchased Grand Canyon University in February 2004...
in Phoenix, AZ. He earned a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with Areas of Specialization in Molecular Biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
and Genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
from Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
in West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific...
.
He began his medical research career in the Department of Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
at The Barrow Neurological Institute http://www.thebarrow.org/ at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center is a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is currently operated by Catholic Healthcare West , one of the largest healthcare systems in the West with 40 hospitals in Arizona, California and Nevada. St...
in Phoenix where he worked on a neurological team to develop receptor antagonists of glutamatergic pathways and associated biochemical receptors in the central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
. Following that, he was a Research Associate in Molecular Virology
Molecular Virology
Molecular Virology is the study of viruses at the molecular level.In particular, this includes the analysis of individual viral genes and gene products, and their interaction with host cellular proteins....
in the Department of Molecular Biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
at The Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute is an American medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, with a sister facility in Jupiter, Florida, the institute is home to 3,000 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and...
(TSRI) in La Jolla, California and a Senior Fellow in Immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
at The Medical Biology Institute (MBI) in La Jolla, CA (MBI later merged with Avanir Pharmaceuticals).
He developed a vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
and gene therapy
Gene therapy
Gene therapy is the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual's cells and biological tissues to treat disease. It is a technique for correcting defective genes that are responsible for disease development...
technology at TSRI that was further developed at Pentamer Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was a biotechnology company that he founded in 1996 with funding from Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
) and the GeneChem Technologies Venture Fund (Canada).
His work with the virus-like particle and the Nodavirus family (Nodaviridae
Nodaviridae
Nodaviridae is a family of RNA viruses.-Virology:The virus is not enveloped and has an isocahedral capsid ranging from 29 to 35 nm in diameter...
) resulted in novel prototype vaccines for a number of diseases including human respiratory syncytial virus
Human respiratory syncytial virus
Human respiratory syncytial virus is a virus that causes respiratory tract infections. It is the major cause of lower respiratory tract infections and hospital visits during infancy and childhood. A prophylactic medication exists for preterm birth infants and infants with a congenital heart...
, Hepatitis B Virus
Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis B is an infectious illness caused by hepatitis B virus which infects the liver of hominoidea, including humans, and causes an inflammation called hepatitis. Originally known as "serum hepatitis", the disease has caused epidemics in parts of Asia and Africa, and it is endemic in China...
, Hepatitis C Virus
Hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis C virus is a small , enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae...
, Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, West Nile Virus
West Nile virus
West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic...
, Plague, Ebola virus
Ebola virus
Ebola virus causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever. EBOV is a Select Agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen , National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogen,...
and Anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
. He is the sole inventor on the patent that formed the basis for using the Nodaviruses as a vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
and gene therapy
Gene therapy
Gene therapy is the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual's cells and biological tissues to treat disease. It is a technique for correcting defective genes that are responsible for disease development...
viral vector
Viral vector
Viral vectors are a tool commonly used by molecular biologists to deliver genetic material into cells. This process can be performed inside a living organism or in cell culture . Viruses have evolved specialized molecular mechanisms to efficiently transport their genomes inside the cells they infect...
U.S. Patent 6,171,591.
In addition to his vaccine and gene therapy work, he has extensive experience in cell therapy
Cell therapy
Cell therapy describes the process of introducing new cells into a tissue in order to treat a disease. Cell therapies often focus on the treatment of hereditary diseases, with or without the addition of gene therapy...
, regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine is the "process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore orestablish normal function". This field holds the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body by replacing damaged tissue and/or by stimulating the body's own repair...
and biomaterials engineering. His lab is working on novel approaches to enhancing the use of cell therapy with biomaterials to treat neurological disease and neuromuscular diseases.
In addition to his active research programs, he is adjunct bioengineering faculty in the Engineering Projects In Community Service
Engineering Projects In Community Service
Engineering Projects in Community Service was founded in 1995 at Purdue University by Professors Edward Coyle and Leah Jamieson as a solution to two problems. First, many engineering graduates lacked real world skills need for project management, such as budgeting and scheduling...
(EPICS) program at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
and Consulting Director of Life Sciences at Centralytics, Inc. http://www.centralytics.com/.