Elwood V. Jensen

Elwood V. Jensen 1980

Elwood Vernon Jensen (born January 13, 1920 in Fargo , North Dakota , † December 16, 2012 in Cincinnati , Ohio ) was an American chemist and physiologist . Jensen is considered a pioneer in researching the transmission of signals by hormones .

Life

Jensen's family moved to Springfield , Ohio in 1924 . In 1940 he graduated from Wittenberg College with a degree in chemistry . After a year of graduate studies at the University of Chicago , World War II took him to chemical warfare and research into synthetic rubber, making discoveries in free radical chemistry . In 1944 he received his PhD in organic chemistry .

After the war he received a Guggenheim grant and was able to deepen his knowledge of the chemistry of steroids with Leopold Ružička at the ETH Zurich . Back in Chicago, Jensen became a member of the medical faculty and founded the Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research with the later Nobel Prize winner Charles Brenton Huggins , where he remained until his retirement in 1990 and served as director from 1969 to 1982. In the meantime, he headed the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (1983–1987) and worked as a Fogarty Scholar at the National Institutes of Health (1988).

Jensen remained scientifically active even after he was 70. Jensen stayed one year as a Scholar-in-Residence at Cornell University in New York City , seven years as a visiting professor at the University of Hamburg , three years as a visiting professor at the Karolinska Institute in Huddinge and a few months at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda . In 2002 he joined the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Cincinnati as a visiting professor .

Jensen discovered the estrogen receptor, the first hormone receptor , in 1958 , for which he used tritium as a tracer . In 1968 he demonstrated this hormone receptor in the tumor cells of some of the patients with breast cancer , which made it possible for the first time to predict the possible success of anti-hormone therapy . In 1977 he and Geoffrey Greene developed a monoclonal antibody against this receptor. The immunohistochemical examination of breast cancer is now part of the standard diagnosis. Building on Jensen's work, numerous other hormone receptors were discovered in the following years. In 1986, for example , Pierre Chambon and Ronald M. Evans cloned the nuclear receptors for thyroid hormones ( thyroid hormone receptor ) and glucocorticoids ( glucocorticoid receptor ), for which they were awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research 2004 together with Elwood V. Jensen . Further research dealt with the binding behavior of the estrogen receptor and the effects of tamoxifen on the receptor.

Jensen has received numerous other scientific awards, including the Prix Roussel , the Axel Munthe Award for Reproductive Medicine, the Landon Prize for Translational Cancer Research and the Brinker Award for Breast Cancer Research.

Jensen received honorary doctorates from Wittenberg College , Acadia University in Wolfville , the Medical College of Ohio , as well as the University of Hamburg and the University of Athens . In 1974 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and in 1975 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 1980/1981 he was President of the US Endocrine Society . Jensen served on the College of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Cancer Society , the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Jensen was among the editors of eight scientific journals.

Who's Who in America. 66th Edition, Volume 1: A – L. Marquis Who's Who, Berkeley Heights 2011, ISBN 978-0-8379-7031-8 (Volume 1), ISBN 978-0-8379-7035-6 (Complete Works ), ISSN 0083-9396 , pp. 2195-2196

Commons : Elwood V. Jensen - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Jensen, Elwood V.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jensen, Elwood; Jensen, Elwood Vernon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American chemist and physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 13, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fargo , North Dakota
DATE OF DEATH	December 16, 2012
Place of death	Cincinnati , Ohio