Seymour S. Cohen

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Seymour Stanley Cohen (born April 30, 1917 in Brooklyn , New York - † December 30, 2018 ) was an American biochemist and cancer researcher . Cohen is considered a pioneer in research on virus development and the influence of viruses on cell metabolism . His work has had a major impact on the drug treatment of cancer and viral infections .

Life

Cohen earned a bachelor's degree from City College of New York in 1936 and a Ph.D. in 1941 from Erwin Chargaff at Columbia University - also in New York - with his thesis The Thromboplastic Protein from Lungs. in biochemistry . As a postdoctoral fellow , Cohen worked on plant viruses at the later Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Wendell M. Stanley at the Rockefeller Institute , again at Columbia University in 1942/1943, and from 1943 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia .

At the University of Pennsylvania Cohen received a position as a lecturer (instructor) in paediatrics and in 1947 as an assistant professor of biochemistry in paediatrics. In 1947/1948 Cohen worked on a Guggenheim grant with the later Nobel Prize winners André Lwoff and Jacques Monod at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and in the summers of 1951 and 1952 with a grant from the Lalor Foundation at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole , Massachusetts . Cohen became Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 and Full Professor in 1954, a position he held until 1971 - interrupted by visiting professorships in 1967 at the Institut du Radium and in 1970 at the Collège de France , both in Paris.

1971 Cohen received a call to the University of Colorado Denver as a professor at the local School of Medicine and at the same time as American Cancer Society Research Professor of Microbiology . 1973/1974 he was Fogarty Scholar at the National Cancer Institute and 1974 visiting professor at the Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem and at the University of Tokyo . In 1976, Cohen moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook as Professor of Pharmacological Research . Here, too, he was also a professor at the American Cancer Society . In 1982/1983 and 1985 he stayed at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina and in 1983 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . In 1985 Cohen retired , but in 1988 was still a visiting professor at the University of California, San Francisco .

Cohen married Elaine Pear in 1940, who died in 1995. The couple had two children. Cohen last lived in Woods Hole.

Act

In 1945, Cohen carried out the first systematic study of cell metabolism on cells infected by viruses - here: bacteriophages - and how viruses multiply. Cohen dealt with thymineless death , the phenomenon that bacteria, fungi and cells of higher organisms such as mammals perish if they lack deoxythymidine triphosphate ; an effect that underlies the action of certain antibiotics , antimalarials, or cancer drugs.

Together with Gerard R. Wyatt , Cohen discovered in 1952 that certain bacteriophages that infect E. coli incorporate 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (HMC) into their DNA instead of cytosine . In 1957, Cohen and Joel G. Flaks were able to show that the enzyme that incorporates this pyrimidine does not occur in non-infected cells. This discovery made it possible to develop drugs that specifically inhibit virus replication without affecting the metabolism of healthy cells.

Cohen developed derivatives of the adenine arabinoside (Ara-A), a cytostatic , dealt with RNA synthesis , dealt with the effect of polyamines on the metabolism and with plant viruses . Much of Cohen's work deals with comparative biochemistry and biochemical evolution .

Cohen was a co-editor of the scientific journals Virology , Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Bacteriological Reviews . In addition, Cohen dealt with the history of science , in particular with the chemist Thomas Cooper .

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dr. Seymour S. Cohen 1917 ∼ 2018. Chapman Family Funeral Homes, accessed January 4, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b John Simon Guggenheim Foundation - Seymour S. Cohen. In: gf.org. Retrieved February 12, 2016 .
  3. ^ Eli Lilly and Company-Elanco Research Award Past Laureates. In: asm.org. February 5, 2016, accessed February 16, 2016 .
  4. ^ Get Involved: Volunteer or Join a Committee. In: aps-spr.org. Retrieved February 16, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter C. (PDF; 1.3 MB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved May 13, 2019 .
  6. ^ Recipients of the Passano Laureate and Physician Scientist Awards. In: passanofoundation.org. Retrieved May 13, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Cohen, Seymour S.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cohen, Seymour Stanley; Cohen, Seymour
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biochemist and cancer researcher
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 2018