Touster was born in New York City and attended the
City College of New York. He received a master's degree from
Oberlin College in 1942. Touster then went to work for Atlas Powder Company, only to leave after a year for a job at
Abbott Laboratories, where Touster and
H. E. Carter focused on penicillin research. Touster earned a Ph.D. due to his collaboration with Carter and joined the faculty of Vanderbilt in 1947. At Vanderbilt, Touster researched
pentose metabolic pathways, and was awarded the Theobald Smith Award by the
American Association for the Advancement of Science for his work in 1956. The next year, Touster became a
Guggenheim Fellow. In 1963, Touster founded the Vanderbilt's molecular biology department. He was named a
Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor in 1982. He retired from Vanderbilt in 2003. ==References==