Arnold Demain
This biographical article is written encyclopedic . (May 2020) |
Arnold L. Demain | |
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Born | MIT, Drew University | April 26, 1927
Arnold L. Demain (April 26, 1927 – April 3, 2020) was an American
Demain published over 500 papers, co-edited or co-authored fourteen books, and took out 21 U.S. patents.[4][5]
Early life and education
Demain was born in
Demain attended Michigan State briefly, then joined the
From MSC, Demain went to the University of California's Department of Food Science, which was first at the Berkeley campus and then at Davis working with Herman Phaff. He began work on his Ph.D. project on polygalacturonase of Saccharomyces fragilis. The project resulted in four papers on pectic enzymes, one of which published in Nature.[4] At Berkeley, he was in charge of the cultures in UC's yeast collection. Demain said that he and Phaff "apparently were the first in the world to carry out affinity chromatography, using a pectic acid gel to selectively adsorb YPG from culture filtrates."[6] Demain received his Ph.D. in 1954.[7]
Career
In early 1954, Demain moved to Danville, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a research microbiologist for Merck Sharp & Dohme, studying the synthesis of penicillin. His work helped identify the
In 1964 when he was asked to form a new department at Merck that would involve the improvement of product biosynthesis in microbial strains.[6] Demain named it the Department of Fermentation Microbiology[6] Demain "directed research and development on processes for monosodium glutamate, vitamin B12, streptomycin, riboflavin, cephamycin, fosfomycin, and interferon inducers,"[7] and "elucidated the mechanism by which the biosynthesis of cephalosporin in Cephalsporium acremonium was stimulated by the presence of methionine – a new mechanism which had not been reported before." The team managed to boost production yields of vitamin B12.[6] The work done under Demain's direction in Rahway has been described in Microbiology Australia as "remarkable" in its "level of innovation," in that it identified "novel biochemical pathways" that improved "natural levels of production" several thousandfold.[4]
In 1968, Demain was invited by
At MIT, Demain and his team pioneered research on the elucidation and regulation of the biosynthetic pathways leading to penicillins and cephalosporins.[4][5] Demain's MIT research led to "a breakthrough discovery of a key enzyme in cephalosporin biosynthesis –deacetoxycephalosporin C synthetase ('expandase'). The discovery of this enzyme established the role of penicillin as an intermediate in cephalosporin C biosynthesis and disproved the previous hypothesis that these two separate end products of C. acremonium were formed by a branched secondary metabolic pathway."[citation needed]
In the mid-1990s, Demain and his team "started a series of NASA-sponsored experiments to determine the effect of simulated microgravity (SMG) on secondary metabolism" and "found that regulation of microbial processes under SMG was quite different from that at normal gravity." In his last MIT projects he studied Clostridium tetani and C. difficile with the aim of facilitating the production of improved tetanus and antibiotic-associated diarrhea vaccines. The effort was successful.[6] Summing up his years at MIT, Demain later said that he "was very lucky...to have had a fantastic group of bright and hardworking visiting scientists, postdoctoral associates, graduate students, undergraduate students and high school students. I owe all my success to them and my two amazing lab supervisors, Nadine A. Solomon and Aiqi Fang....Success at MIT would not have been possible without them."[6]
Demain has said that "the explosion of the biotechnology field" in the early 1970s led to his involvement with "the first biotechnology company, the Cetus Corporation, in Berkeley in 1971." Demain became an advisor to Cetus.[6]
In 2001, Demain became one of a small group of Research Fellows pwcat the Charles Dana Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti, or RISE, at Drew University in New Jersey. In this capacity he trained undergraduate students in conducting research in microbial chemistry.[4][5]
Other professional activities
Demain was elected president of the Society for Industrial Microbiology in 1990, and became a member of the
Honors and awards
Demain has received honorary doctorates from the
Personal life
Arny Demain was married to Joanna (Kaye) Demain for 68 years; they had two children, Pamela and Jeffrey. He died from complications of COVID-19.[12]
References
- .
- S2CID 32313749.
- ^ "Dr. Arnold Demain – 60 years in a scientific career : The Journal of Antibiotics".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "A Tribute to Professor Arnold L Demain – a lifetime in industrial microbiology". Microbiology Australia.
- ^ a b c d "Arnold L. Demain". SemGen. Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
- ^ S2CID 32313749.
- ^ a b c d e "BIT's 6th Life Spring Forum" (PDF). Drew.edu.
- ^ "Nevin S. Scrimshaw, Ph.D., M.D., M.P.H". International Nutrition Foundation. 22 July 2023.
- ^ "Codexis Announces Appointment of Dr. Arnold Demain to Industrial Advisory Board". PR Newswire.
- ^ "Arnold Demain Ph.D". Businessweek. 27 October 2023.[dead link]
- ^ "DR. ARNOLD DEMAIN – 60 YEARS IN A SCIENTIFIC CAREER". The Journal of Antibiotics.
- ^ Raleigh McElvery (14 April 2020). "Professor Emeritus Arnold Demain, a pioneer in the development of antibiotics, dies at 92". MIT.