Rudolph Schoenheimer
Rudolf Schoenheimer | |
---|---|
Yonkers, New York, U.S | |
Nationality | German/American |
Alma mater | Friedrich Wilhelm University |
Known for | isotope tagging of biomolecules |
Scientific career | |
Fields | biochemistry |
Institutions | Columbia University |
Rudolf Schoenheimer (May 10, 1898 – September 11, 1941) was a German-American biochemist who developed the technique of isotope labelling/tagging of biomolecules, enabling detailed study of metabolism.[1] This work revealed that all the constituents of an organism are in a constant state of chemical renewal.[2]
Born in
He spent the 1930-31 academic year at the University of Chicago.[4]
In 1933, following the rise of the Nazis to power he emigrated from Germany to the
He further established that cholesterol is a risk factor in atherosclerosis.[3]
He suffered from manic depression all of his life,[2] which led to him in 1941 committing suicide using cyanide.[5] He had been honoured with the request to give the Dunham Lecture at Harvard before his death. It was read for him following his death.[6]
Early life and education
Rudolf Schoenheimer was born in Berlin, Germany on 10 May 1898.[4] He was the son of Gertrude Edel and Hugo Schoenheimer, who was a physician.[3] He was Jewish, however his family converted to Christianity.[1] He attended local schools in Berlin before graduating from the Dorotheen-Stadtische Gymnasium in 1916.[3] Following his graduation Schoenheimer was drafted into the German army.[4] He served in the artillery on the western front for two years during world war 1.[3] Following his service in the war, he began his study of medicine at the University of Berlin.[4] In 1922 he received his M.D. His M.D dissertation was titled "Über die experimentelle Cholesterinkrankheit der Kaninchen" ("About the experimental cholesterol disease of rabbits").[3] He then spent a year working at the Moabit Hospital in Berlin as a pathologist.[3] He continued his scientific research during this time and studied the production of atherosclerosis in animals through administering cholesterol.[4]
In 1924, Schoenheimer began his 3-year study at the University of Leipzig, in a program aimed at advancing his knowledge in chemistry.[3] The program was aided by the Rockefeller Foundation and taught by Karl Thomas, professor of physiological chemistry at the University of Leipzig.[3] During his time at Leipzig, Schoenheimer was able to develop a method of synthesising peptides.[4]
Career
After his studies at Leipzig had ended, he began a year of work at the Moabit Hospital in Berlin as the resident pathologist.[6] During this time, he began his research and studies on the issue of atherosclerosis.[4] His first published works, dated during this period were in on the development of atherosclerosis in experimental animals when administered cholesterol.[6] He also spent time working in the laboratory of Peter Rona at the Berlin Municipal Hospital.[4]
In 1926, Schoenheimer was invited by Ludwig Aschoff to join the faculty at the University of Freiburg.[7] There he worked as an assistant professor.[3] The investigation of pathological material was part of his work duties.[6] During this time, he also researched atherosclerosis and the role of dietary cholesterol in its development.[7] He became the active in 1927, and then the titular, head of his division in 1931.[6]
In 1930, until 1931, Schoenheimer was in the United States as the Douglas Smith Fellow at the University of Chicago.[6] During this time Schoenheimer came into contact with the Josiah Macy Jr Foundation. Later in 1931, The Macy Foundation, with Ludwig Kast as its president, started supporting Schoenheimer in his atherosclerosis studies.[1] Following his fellowship, he returned to the University of Freiburg, taking the position of head of the Pathological Chemistry department.[4]
Columbia University: 1933-1934
In April 1933, Schoenheimer emigrated to the United States in response to the Nazi regime's policy for the dismissal of Jewish faculty in universities.[4] He was offered work at Columbia University as an assistant professor, where he continued his research on metabolism and cholesterol synthesis, alongside Walter M. Sperry and David Rittenberg.[4]
In 1933, Germany entered a political crisis and saw the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, which led Schoenheimer into emigrating to the United States.[1] Schoenheimer had Jewish heritage which he was conscious of despite his Family having converted to Christianity. Schoenheimer had joined a Jewish Youth Movement and was actively involved in the Zionist Organisation following WW1.[1] Due to the situation in Germany at the time and the Nazi Policy dismissing Jewish faculty, Schoenheimer was unlikely to remain living in Germany.[1] Ludwig Kast was informed of this situation and contacted U.S universities, Cornell and Columbia on behalf of Schoenheimer. Hans T. Clarke, the Chairman of the Biological Chemistry Department at the University of Columbia, invited Schoenheimer to work at the University.[7] He began work in the Department of Biological Chemistry as a research assistant.[4] The Josiah Macy Foundation provided his salary and research support whilst he worked at Columbia.[1] At Columbia Schoenheimer was among others that shared similar interests in Biochemistry and wanted it to move in the direction of organic chemistry.[1]
Scientific work
Schoenheimer's scientific work contributed to biochemistry and metabolic studies, with his most significant work being the application of isotopes to the study of intermediary metabolism. Schoenheimer's earlier scientific work in the 1920s centered on the physiology and pathology of sterols.[1]
Early work: 1924-1933
In 1926, while at the University of Leipzig, Schoenheimer developed a method of synthesising peptides.[4] From 1903 to 1909, Emil Fischer's scientific work had prompted the synthesis of many peptides, however there were limitations to his method.[3] Fischer used a halogen acyl amino acid halide coupling method.[8] A suitable method was needed, which involved an amino blocking group being removed by a nonhydrolyptic process.[8] This method was first proposed by Rudolph Schoenheimer, as he utilised earlier findings by Michel Bergmann which demonstrated that with a mixture of hydrogen iodide and phosphonium iodide, p-toluenesulfonyl amino acids could be detosylated reductively.[8] Schoenheimer used the azide coupling method introduced by Theodor Curtius, and the acid chloride method introduced by Emil Fischer in order to make several peptides.[8]
In 1929, Schoenheimer investigated how different
Later work: 1933-1941
In 1933, Schoenheimer emigrated to the United States, where his scientific research took a different focus. Prior to his emigration, his work was mostly focused on the metabolism of cholesterol. In 1934 Schoenheimer began his work on intermediary metabolism, and how stable isotopes could be applied to the study.[10] Schoenheimer worked alongside David Rittenburg and later Konrad Bloch. Schoenheimer and his colleagues began their research by conducting experiments with the use of deuterium. Deuterium, which is a stable isotope of hydrogen, was discovered by physical chemist Harold Urey in 1932.[11] One of the methods used in the experiment involved heavy water administered into animals in order to analyse the deuterium present in the different constituents of the body.[10] This suggested which type of substances were utilising the hydrogen present in body fluids and revealed the role water posed in metabolic processes.[4] Their experiment also provided information regarding the breakdown process of lipid compounds containing deuterium in experimental animals. Prior to this study, it was assumed that animals utilised fats directly from foods that they had recently ingested, and that fat stores were only used amid starvation. The experiment revealed that fatty acids remained stored in body depots even during starvation.[10]
Schoenheimer and his colleagues then began a study of
By the late 1930s, Schoenheimer's work had contributed to the rising interest in intermediary metabolism and the isotope method.[1]
Later life and death
Schoenheimer had married Salome Glucksohn, a noted zoologist and geneticist, in 1937. They emigrated to the United States together, and they had no children. They later divorced.[4] Schoenheimer was invited to conduct lectures detailing his scientific work and findings. In 1937, he conducted his Harvey Lecture and in 1941 his Dunham Lecture was conducted by his colleagues in his behalf.[6] At the height of his career he committed suicide by ingesting potassium cyanide at his home in Yonkers, having struggled with depression for multiple years.[4]
Use of Schoenheimer's scientific findings
Schoenheimer's scientific work and his development of isotope tagging techniques enabled biochemists to discover the various metabolic pathways of the body.[4]
Schoenheimer was among the first scientists to identify that the bodies of humans and animals had processes of renewal and regeneration.[13] The methods and techniques used by Schoenheimer also provided a means to measure quantities of substances within the body prior to the advent of the technologies and software for dynamic modeling.[13]
Schoenheimer's 1933 metabolic balance study in animals presented early evidence of "end-product feedback inhibition of
References
- ^ JSTOR 27757372.
- ^ a b c Medawar & Pyke, 2012, p.156.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Schoenheimer, Rudolf | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cooper, D.Y; Osborn, M.E (1999). "Schoenheimer, Rudolph". American National Biography.
- ^ [Anon.] (2001)
- ^ PMID 17821255.
- ^ .
- ^ ISSN 0968-0004.
- ^ PMID 17752469.
- ^ S2CID 4034742.
- ^ Helmenstine, A.M (2019). "Deuterium Facts".
- ^ a b c Shemin, David (1942). "The Dynamic State of Body Constituents: By Rudolf Schoenheimer". Cancer Research. 2. Harvard University Press, Cambridge: 810.
- ^ OCLC 876222114.
- ^ PMID 16100574.
- Kennedy, E P (2001), "Hitler's gift and the era of biosynthesis", J. Biol. Chem., vol. 276, no. 46 (published Nov 16, 2001), pp. 42619–31, PMID 11559714
- Young, V R; Ajami, A (1999), "The Rudolf Schoenheimer Centenary Lecture. Isotopes in nutrition research", The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 58, no. 1 (published Feb 1999), pp. 15–32, PMID 10343336
- Olson, R E (1997), "The dynamic state of body constituents (Schoenheimer, 1939)", J. Nutr., vol. 127, no. 5 Suppl (published May 1997), pp. 1041S–1043S, PMID 9164302
- Guggenheim, K Y (1991), "Rudolf Schoenheimer and the concept of the dynamic state of body constituents.", J. Nutr., vol. 121, no. 11 (published Nov 1991), pp. 1701–4, PMID 1941176
- Ratner, S; Rittenberg, D; Keston, A S; Schoenheimer, R (1987), "The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 134, June 1940: Studies in protein metabolism. XIV. The chemical interaction of dietary glycine and body proteins in rats. By S. Ratner, D. Rittenberg, Albert S. Keston, and Rudolf Schoenheimer", Nutr. Rev., vol. 45, no. 10 (published Oct 1987), pp. 310–2, PMID 3320825
- Shemin, D (1987), "On the impact on biochemical research of the discovery of stable isotopes: the outcome of the serendipic meeting of a refugee with the discoverer of heavy isotopes at Columbia University", Anal. Biochem., vol. 161, no. 2 (published Mar 1987), pp. 365–9, PMID 3555154
- Sinohara, H (1986), "[Rudolf Schoenheimer: a biographical essay]", Seikagaku, vol. 58, no. 12 (published Dec 1986), pp. 1449–70, PMID 3553368
- Goldstein, J L (1986), "On the origin and prevention of PAIDS (Paralyzed Academic Investigator's Disease Syndrome)", J. Clin. Invest., vol. 78, no. 3 (published Sep 1986), pp. 848–54, PMID 3528221
- Stetten, D (1982), "Rudi", Perspect. Biol. Med., vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 354–68, S2CID 246283804
Bibliography
- Brown, M.S, Engelking, L.J, Evers, B, Goldstein, J.L, Hammer, R.E, Horton, J.D, Kuriyama, H, Liang, G, Li, W.P, & Liang, G 2005, 'Schoenheimer effect explained - Feedback regulation of cholesterol synthesis in mice mediated by Insig proteins', The Journal of clinical investigation,vol. 115, pp. 2489–98
- Clarke, Hans T (12 December 1941). "Rudolf Schoenheimer, 1898-1941". Science, New Series. 94: 553–554.
- Cooper, D.Y, & Osborn, M.E 1999, 'Schoenheimer, Rudolph', American National Biography Helmenstine, A.M 2019, 'Deuterium Facts', https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-deuterium-607910
- Engelking, L. J. (2005-08-25). "Schoenheimer effect explained - feedback regulation of cholesterol synthesis in mice mediated by Insig proteins". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 115 (9): 2489–2498. ISSN0021-9738.
- Fruton, Joseph S. (January 1982). "The carbobenzoxy method of peptide synthesis". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 7 (1): 37–39. ISSN0968-0004.
- Hargrove, James L. (1998). Dynamic modeling in the health sciences. Springer. pp. ix. OCLC876222114
- Helmenstine, A.M (2019). "Deuterium Facts".
- Kohler R, Jr 1977, 'Rudolph Schoenheimer, Isotopic Tracers, and Biochemistry in the 1930s', Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, vol. 8, pp. 257–298
- Medawar, Jean: Pyke, David (2012). Hitler's Gift: The True Story of the Scientists Expelled by the Nazi Regime (Paperback). New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61145-709-4.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Quastel J.H. 1942, 'Obituary: Prof. Rudolf Schoenheimer' Nature. 1942; 149,pp. 15–16
- Schoenheimer, R 1931, 'New Contributions in Sterol Metabolism', Science,New Series, vol. 74, no. 1928, pp. 579–584
- Schoenheimer, R 1942, 'The Dynamic State Of Body Constituents' Cancer Research, vol. 2, no. 11, p. 810.
- Simoni, R.D, Hill, R.L, & Vaughan, M 2002, 'The Use of Isotope Tracers to Study Intermediary Metabolism: Rudolph Schoenheimer', The Journal of Biological Chemistry,vol. 277, No. 43
- 'Schoenheimer, Rudolf'Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography,Encyclopedia.com. 23 Apr. 2020 https://www.encyclopedia.com