Gerald D. Aurbach

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Gerald Donald Aurbach (born March 24, 1927 in Cleveland , Ohio, † November 4, 1991 in Charlottesville , Virginia) was an American physiologist and endocrinologist . He is known for his work on identifying and how parathyroid hormone works .

Life

Aurbach grew up in Washington, DC . After his military service in the United States Army Air Forces , he began his studies at the University of Virginia , earning a bachelor's degree in 1950 and an MD in 1954 with a degree in medicine. He then worked at the New England Medical Center and Boston City Hospital . As a research assistant, Aurbach went to Ted Astwood at Tufts Medical School in 1956 , where he was able to continue his work on parathyroid hormone, which he had already begun during his studies.

In 1959 Aurbach joined William Jakoby at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda , Maryland, and in 1961 received a position in the Department of Metabolic Diseases at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (now the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases ). In 1973 he took over the management of this department.

In 1960 Aurbach married Hannah, the couple had two daughters. Aurbach died on November 4, 1991 as a result of the head injuries he had suffered a few days earlier from a stone throwing from a passing car.

Act

In 1959, Aurbach published the successful isolation of parathyroid hormone from the parathyroid glands using phenol . Aurbach and co-workers succeeded for the first time in isolating the parathyroid hormone in quantitative amounts in order to be able to analyze the proteohormone , and in the synthesis of a biologically active form of the hormone. The working group developed a radioimmunoassay to determine the level of parathyroid hormone in blood and other body fluids and to diagnose hyperparathyroidism . The radioactive labeling of the parathyroid hormone as a tracer made it possible to analyze the pharmacokinetics of the hormone. Building on the work of Earl Sutherland , Aurbach and Lew Chase showed that parathyroid hormone acts on the cellular level by increasing cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). The determination of cAMP in the urine provided information about the parathyroid hormone status of the patient. Aurbach and Chase were able to show that there is no increase in cAMP in patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism due to hormone resistance. Together with Allen Spiegel , Aurbach was able to identify the genetic disorder that underlies pseudohypoparathyroidism.

The large number of patients with disorders of the parathyroid function assigned to the NIH Clinical Center has made the center a leading institution in the field of parathyroid surgery.

Together with Steve Marx , Aurbach identified several hereditary forms of hyperparathyroidism : MEN 1 , familial benign hypocalzuric hypercalcemia and hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome .

Awards (selection)

The Endocrine Society awarded the Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture between 1993 and 2014, and the Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research since 2015 . There is also a Gerald D. Aurbach Memorial Lecture at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research . At the University of Virginia there has been a Gerald D. Aurbach Professorship in Endocrinology since 1998 ; The current position holder (as of 2013) is Margaret A. Shupnik , her predecessor was Theresa A. Guise . In 2001 the Gerald D. Aurbach Medical Research Building was built at the University of Virginia .

literature

  • Ira Pastan: Gerald Donald Aurbach. In: Biographical Memoirs. Volume 90 2009 ( online )
  • Gerald Aurbach, 64, US Health Researcher. In: New York Times , November 6, 1991 ( online )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerald D. Aurbach MD at the Gairdner Foundation (gairdner.org); Retrieved February 9, 2013
  2. ↑ Gerald D. Aurbach at the National Academy of Sciences (nasonline.org); Retrieved February 9, 2013
  3. ↑ Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture at the Endocrine Society (endo-society.org); Retrieved February 20, 2016
  4. ↑ Gerald D Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research at the Endocrine Society (endo-society.org); Retrieved February 20, 2016
  5. ^ Plenary Lectures at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (asbmr.org); Retrieved February 20, 2016
  6. ↑ The Gerald D. Aurbach Professorship Fund at the University of Virginia (virginia.edu); Retrieved February 20, 2016
  7. ^ Aurbach Medical Research Building at the University of Virginia (virginia.edu); Retrieved February 9, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Aurbach, Gerald D.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aurbach, Gerald; Aurbach, Gerry; Aurbach, Gerald Donald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physiologist and endocrinologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Cleveland , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH November 4th 1991
Place of death Charlottesville , Virginia