George Joseph Popják

A publication by George Joseph Popják and John Cornforth

George Joseph Popják (born  May 5, 1914 in Kiskundorozsma ; †  December 30, 1998 in Westwood, Los Angeles ) was a Hungarian - British biochemist who served as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1968 to 1984 . He was particularly concerned with the study of lipid metabolism and, through his research, made a significant contribution to the elucidation of cholesterol biosynthesis . For his work he was accepted as a fellow in the Royal Society in 1961 and in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971, and was honored with the Davy Medal in 1968 .

Life

George Joseph Popják was born in 1914 in what is now Szeged, the son of an engineer and a primary school teacher. He studied medicine at the Franz Joseph University in Szeged, graduating in 1938 with a doctorate and the highest grade “Sub Auspiciis Gubernatoris”. He then worked as an anatomy assistant at the university before continuing his training as a pathologist . Shortly before the Second World War he left Hungary and went with a scholarship of the British Council to London , where, after two years as a research associate in the Department of Pathology of the Hammersmith Hospital employment as a lecturer in the Department of Pathology, St Thomas' Hospital received.

In 1947 he moved to the National Institute for Medical Research, also based in London . From 1953 to 1962, he headed the Hammersmith Hospital-based Experimental Radiopathology Research Unit of the Medical Research Council . He then worked as co-director of the Chemical Enzymology Laboratory in Sittingbourne until 1968 . In 1968 he moved to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was professor of biological chemistry and psychiatry . After his retirement in 1984, he continued to work in research in the Atherosclerosis Research Unit at UCLA until shortly before his death. He died in 1998 in Westwood, a district of Los Angeles .

Scientific work

George Joseph Popják, who published around 230 scientific publications during his career , began in the 1940s with biochemical research on lipid metabolism , in particular on the biosynthesis of sterols and other lipids . From the early 1950s he concentrated on studying the biosynthesis of cholesterol . In particular, he used substrates that were radioactively labeled at defined molecular positions .

In this way and through enzymological methods he was able to elucidate the individual reaction steps involved in the formation of cholesterol together with Konrad Bloch , Feodor Lynen and in particular with John W. Cornforth , with whom he worked in England for around two decades . In addition, he demonstrated that fatty acid synthesis does not take place in the mitochondria as a reversal of β-oxidation , but is based on an independent enzyme system in the cytosol . After moving to UCLA, he mainly dealt with the regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis.

Awards

In recognition of his research, George Joseph Popják received the Ciba Medal of the British Biochemical Society in 1966 and, in 1967, together with Peter Holtz , Ulf von Euler and John Cornforth, the Stouffer Prize, which was awarded for outstanding research on high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis . From the Royal Society , which elected him a Fellow in 1961 , he and John Cornforth were awarded the Davy Medal in 1968 , the highest scientific award in Great Britain in the field of chemistry . The Royal Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts made him a foreign member in 1955, and in 1971 he was admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Works (selection)

• Chemistry, Biochemistry and Isotopic Tracer Technique. London 1955
• Biochemical Problems of Lipids. London 1956 (as co-author)
• Biosynthesis of Lipids. London 1963 (as editor)

literature

• In memoriam Professor George Joseph Popják, MD, DSc, FRS. May 5, 1914-December 30, 1998. In: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology . 19/1999. American Heart Association, pp. 830/831, ISSN  1079-5642
• Muhammad Akhtar: George Joseph Popják. May 5, 1914-30 December 1998. In: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 46/2000. The Royal Society, pp. 405-424, ISSN  0080-4606