Luis Federico Leloir

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Luis Federico Leloir

Luis Federico Leloir (born September 6, 1906 in Paris , † December 3, 1987 in Buenos Aires ) was an Argentine biochemist who received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of sugar nucleotides and their importance for the synthesis of carbohydrates .

biography

Luis Federico Leloir was born in Paris in France in 1906 , so was a native of France. As a child, however, he moved to Argentina with his parents and from 1924 studied medicine at the University of Buenos Aires . In 1932 he received his doctorate from the same and then worked as a research assistant at the University's Institute of Physiology . In 1941 he became professor of physiology at the University of Buenos Aires and from 1947 took over the management of the institute for biochemical research of the Fundacion Campomar .

plant

Luis Federico Leloir began his research on carbohydrates and sugar molecules in the 1950s, focusing on their metabolism . He was able to show that polysaccharides , which, like chitin or cellulose, consist of individual parts, are synthesized via sugar nucleotides. So he was able to elucidate the biosynthesis of these polysaccharides and also identify and examine the individual enzymes that are used for their synthesis. Among other things, he discovered uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose) as the first known sugar nucleotide , which consists of the nucleotide from the base uracil and ribose , the sugar glucose and two phosphate molecules .

In 1953 Leloir showed that the glycosyl residue of trehalose is made available during biosynthesis by UDP-glucose. In 1955 he was able to demonstrate the same thing with cane sugar ( sucrose ), from which he deduced that it is a process that is present in all sugar synthesis processes. After this research, he concentrated more on the formation of glycogen and on starch and was able to demonstrate an analogous formation here too.

Awards

In 1960 Leloir was elected to the National Academy of Sciences , 1961 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1963 to the American Philosophical Society and 1978 to the Académie des Sciences . In 1966 he received the Gairdner Foundation International Award .

In 1970 Leloir received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry , which had not previously been awarded to any South American. In 1983 he was honored with the Diamond Konex Award from the Argentine Konex Foundation. In 2001 the Campomar Institute of Research in Biochemistry ( Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Fundación Campomar ) was renamed the Leloir Institute ( Instituto Leloir ).

Luis Federico Leloir Prize

Since 2010, the Argentine Science Minister has awarded the Luis Federico Leloir Prize for “international cooperation in science and technology” to foreign personalities every year . Previous winners include, for example, the diplomat Günter Knieß (2012), the chemist Helge Willner (2013), Viktor Klima as chairman of the German-Argentine Association for Business and Technology (ACTAA) (2014), the biologist Herbert Jäckle (2014) and the electrochemist Wolfgang Schmickler (2017).

Web links

Commons : Luis Federico Leloir  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Member History: Luis F. Leloir. American Philosophical Society, accessed November 21, 2018 .
  2. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter L. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 11, 2020 (French).
  3. ↑ Luis F. Leloir. In: Gairdner Foundation - All Gairdner Awards Laureates. Gairdner Foundation, accessed August 11, 2019 (American English).
  4. ↑ Luis Federico Leloir | Fundación Konex. Retrieved August 11, 2019 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Honor for Knieß. In: Argentinisches Tagblatt. November 1, 2012, accessed August 11, 2019 .
  6. ↑ ACTAA: “Luis Federico Leloir” - Prize for international cooperation in science and technology  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 25, 2017)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / actaa.org.ar  
  7. ↑ Press release from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry: Herbert Jäckle awarded the Argentine State Prize (accessed on July 25, 2017)
  8. ^ Daniela Stang: Merit for German-Argentine cooperation: Dr. Luis Federico Leloir Prize for Prof. Wolfgang Schmickler. In: news-detail - Ulm University. Ulm University, December 20, 2017, accessed on August 11, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Leloir, Luis Federico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine biochemist and Nobel Prize winner in chemistry
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH 3rd December 1987
Place of death Buenos Aires