Doty, former senior research associate, dies at 77

Helga Boedtker Doty, a molecular biologist at Harvard University, died on Oct. 23 following a stroke. She was 77.

Doty received her Ph.D. at Harvard in 1954. She served as a tutor in biochemical sciences in Harvard College, mentoring many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, while making the family home near her Kirkland Place laboratory a welcome retreat for many.

As a senior research associate at the University for more than 30 years, Doty was primarily responsible for isolating individual collagen molecules and determining their size and shape, thereby opening the way to diverse studies of the family of collagen molecules.