Choh Hao Li

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Choh Hao Li (also Cho Hao Li , Chinese 李卓皓; born April 21, 1913 in Guangzhou (Canton), Republic of China ; † November 28, 1987 ) was a Chinese -American biochemist . Li was considered a leader in the field of biochemistry of the hormones of the adenohypophysis (anterior part of the pituitary gland).

Life

Li was one of ten children of a Chinese industrialist. Choh Hao Li earned a bachelor's degree from Nanjing University in 1933 , where he also lectured in chemistry before going to the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) in 1935 to do a Ph.D. with Thomas Dale Stewart. to acquire. There Li married his fellow student Shen-hwai Lu, who graduated with a master's degree in agricultural science. In Berkeley, Li worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Herbert Evans . Li became a lecturer in 1942, assistant professor in 1944 and associate professor in 1947 . In 1949/1950 he went as a Guggenheim Fellow to Arne Tiselius at Uppsala University and to Fred Sanger and Rodney Porter at the University of Cambridge . From 1950, Li headed the laboratory for hormone research at UCB. In 1957 Li took a sabbatical to learn methods of peptide synthesis from Robert Schwyzer in Basel . Li's successor in Berkeley was William Rutter in 1967 , when Li moved with his laboratory to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he stayed until his retirement in 1983. Until his death in 1987, Li continued to head the Laboratory for Molecular Endocrinology at UCSF.

Act

Proopiomelanocortin derivatives
POMC
     
γ-MSH ACTH β-lipotropin
         
  α-MSH CLIP γ-lipotropin β-endorphin
       
    β-MSH  

In over 1100 scientific publications from six decades, Li was able to gain fundamental knowledge on the biochemistry, relationship (within the same species and between different species), effects and cross-effects of numerous peptide hormones - in particular the proopiomelanocortin complex.

Li began developing methods to isolate hormones from the adenohypophysis at Evans . In 1940 Li succeeded in isolating luteinizing hormone (LH). Adrenocorticotropin (adrenocorticotropic hormone, ACTH) could be identified and at least partially synthesized. Other achievements include the identification and purification of somatropin (growth hormone, GH) (the synthesis was Li in 1973), the identification of β-endorphin and the identification and purification of insulin like growth factor 1 (insulin-like growth factor 1, IGF-1 ).

Li was also able to make important contributions to early protein and peptide chemistry.

Awards and honors (selection)

Li received ten honorary doctorates , including from the Catholic University of Chile , the University of Hong Kong, and Uppsala University . Together with Herbert Evans , Li was nominated at least twice for the Nobel Prize. Lectures in memory of Choh Hao Li are held annually at UCSF and Academia Sinica .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 1962 Winners at the Lasker Foundation (laskerfoundation.org); Retrieved June 10, 2012
  2. Book of Members 1780 – present (PDF, 251 kB) of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org); Retrieved June 10, 2012
  3. ^ The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1901-1953 (1) and (2) at the Nobel Foundation (nobelprize.org); Retrieved June 11, 2012