Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat
Heinz Ludwig Fraenkel-Conrat (* 29. July 1910 in Breslau , † 10. April 1999 in Oakland ) was a German - American biochemist who mainly due to its virological work on the tobacco mosaic virus has been known (TMV).
Life
Fraenkel-Conrat was the son of the gynecologist Ludwig Fraenkel . He first studied medicine at the university in his hometown, where he graduated in 1933. Due to the takeover of the Nazis another academic career in Germany it was not possible, as he called on the criteria of Nazi Jew was. He first emigrated to Scotland , where he obtained a " Ph.D. " degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1936 . In 1936 he emigrated to the United States, where he worked in various academic institutions (including the Rockefeller Institute in New York City ). Since 1952 he was a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley .
His main scientific topic was virological issues and in particular the tobacco mosaic virus. He was able to break down the virus into ribonucleic acid (RNA) and protein components and show that the nucleic acid of the virus alone was infectious and thus contained the genetic code of the virus. In 1960 he and his colleagues succeeded in completely sequencing the 158 amino acid TMV envelope protein , which at the time was the largest protein whose sequence was known.
He has received numerous awards for his work, including the 1958 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research . In 1974 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences . He remained scientifically active well into old age and was supported by his wife, Bea Singer, who was also a scientist in Berkeley.
Publications (selection)
- Fraenkel-Conrat H., Singer B .: Virus reconstitution and the proof of the existence of genomic RNA . Philosophcal Transactions B of the Royal Society. 1999; 354 (1383). doi : 10.1098 / rstb.1999.0409
- Fraenkel-Conrat H: Early days of protein chemistry. FASEB J. 1994; 8 (6): 452-3. PMID 8168696 .
- Fraenkel-Conrat H, Williams RC. Reconstitution of Active Tobacco Mosaic Virus from its Inactive Protein and Nucleic Acid Components. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 1955; 41 (10): 690-8. PMID 16589730 .
Web links and sources
- Heinz L. Fraenkel-Conrat, 88; Dissected Virus , obituary and biography of Eric Nagourney in the New York Times , May 2, 1999
- Heinz L. Fraenkel-Conrat, Molecular and Cell Biology: Berkeley , obituary by Peter Duesberg , Harry Rubin and Gunther Stent , University of California
- Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat , obituary in: The Guardian , May 31, 1999
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fraenkel-Conrat, Heinz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fraenkel-Conrat, Heinz Ludwig (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American biochemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 29, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wroclaw |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 10, 1999 |
| Place of death | Oakland |