Rate My Professor Maria Linder

Maria C. Linder was a distinguished Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University, Fullerton, where she dedicated 45 years of service from 1977 until her passing in 2022. She earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1960, followed by a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University. Prior to her appointment at CSUF, Linder served as an associate professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At CSUF, she advanced to full professor, chaired the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from 2004 to 2010, and directed the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholars Program from 2008 to 2017. This program provided transformative research experiences to underrepresented and first-generation undergraduate students aspiring to biomedical careers, mentoring scores of students in her laboratory.

Linder's research focused on copper and iron metabolism in mammals, exploring metal transport mechanisms, functions of metalloproteins in health and disease, intestinal copper absorption independent of copper transporter 1, secretion and uptake via small copper carriers in blood plasma, apoceruloplasmin abundance and metabolism, effects of estrogen on copper transport, regulation of iron release from ferritin, and responses to copper overload. Her contributions advanced understanding of these trace elements' roles, including potential links to cancer. She authored over 137 peer-reviewed publications, many co-authored with students, including "Secretion and Uptake of Copper via a Small Copper Carrier in Blood Fluid" (2022), "Intestinal Uptake of Cu by Processes that Do Not Involve Copper Transporter 1 (CTR1), as Determined with Caco2 Cell Monolayers" (2021), "A Small Copper Carrier in Blood Plasma: Purification, Characterization, and Metabolism" (2021), "Apoceruloplasmin: Abundance, Detection, Formation, and Metabolism" (2021), and "Copper Homeostasis in Mammals, with Emphasis on Secretion and Excretion. A Review" (2020). Linder secured more than $12 million in research grants. Her excellence was recognized with the CSUF Outstanding Professor Award (1985), College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Outstanding Research Awards (1995, 2002), Distinguished Faculty recognition (1992, 1998), inaugural L. Donald Shields Excellence in Scholarship and Creativity Award (2013), California State University Wang Family Excellence Award (2007), American Chemical Society Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution (1993), and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2016) for mammalian copper and iron metabolism research. In 2021, she established the Maria Linder Nielson Endowed Graduate Fellowship to support master's students in biochemistry.