Page Comparison - Anfinsen - Molecular Basis (v.1 vs v.2)

Versions Compared

Key

This line was added.
This line was removed.
Formatting was changed.

...

Dive

preface
class	grid-row grid-gap

Dive

preface	mobile-lg:
class	grid-col-5

In 1947, Anfinsen spent a second productive period abroad, this time in Hugo Theorell's laboratory at the Medical Nobel Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Theorell would win the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on enzymes, proteins that catalyze or accelerate biological reactions.

Dive

preface	mobile-lg:
class	grid-col-7

Span

class	caption

Hugo Theorell with his Geiger-Muller counter for detecting radioactivity in his laboratory at the Medical Nobel Institute in Sweden.

Span

class	credit

Courtesy of Karolinska Instituet

Early studies in the National Heart Institute

Anfinsen was recruited to the National Heart Institute (now the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) at the NIH in 1950, a time when scientists were just beginning to explore the new fields of genetics and molecular biology, rooted in the classic discipline of chemistry. Here Anfinsen combined his research on the structure and function of proteins with investigations into cardiology-related areas such as lipids (fats).

Image Added

Span

class	caption

This 1951 photo from the NIH Record highlighted studies by Anfinsen and Daniel Steinberg on the mechanism of protein synthesis. During the first decade at NIH, Anfinsen conducted research on cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism as related to atherosclerosis, as well as on protein structure that included isolating enzymes and separating proteins into their constituent amino acids. These early protein studies were stepping stones to analyzing the stability of the three-dimensional protein structure and protein “folding” in the later 1950s and early 1960s for which he is best known today.

Span

class	credit

PHOTO CREDIT: U.S. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

Anfinsen's Manifesto

Dive

preface
class	grid-row grid-gap

Dive

preface	mobile-lg:
class	grid-col-8

Anfinsen published The Molecular Basis of Evolution in 1959. It was partly a basic primer on genetics and evolution for chemists, and partly a manifesto for the importance of chemistry to molecular biology, genetics, and evolutionary theory. The book was Anfinsen’s statement of belief and motivation, and through it he inspired many younger scientists.

Learn more about the book "The Molecular Basis of Evolution".

Dive

preface	mobile-lg:
class	grid-col-4

Image Added

Span

class	caption

Copy of Anfinsen’s book, The Molecular Basis of Evolution

Image Added

Span

class	caption

These molecule structures of amino acids are featured in Anfinsen’s The Molecular Basis of Evolution.

“The principal aim of this book has been to examine the basic principles underlying another possible method for the study of evolution [instead of fossils or comparative anatomy]. This method is based on the hypothesis that the individual proteins which characterize a particular species are unique reflections of the genes which control their synthesis. …[T]he structure of proteins may be a relatively direct expression of gene structure and …comparative protein chemistry may furnish a qualitative view of genotypic differences and similarities.”

Image Added

The key to discovery? In a way, yes. This key was to the glass case displaying the staff directory for Building 3, which included an impressive array of scientists who served as Anfinsen's peers and collaborators, including future Nobel laureates Julius Axelrod and Arthur Kornberg, as well as later National Academy members Robert Berliner, Bernard Brodie, Donald Fredrickson, Edward Korn, and Earl and Thressa Stadtman.

Learn more about the scientists in Building 3.

Button

link	Anfinsen - Protein Structure
page	Protein Structure and Synthesis: The Road to the Nobel Prize
align	center

Versions Compared

Old Version 1

New Version 2

Key

Early studies in the National Heart Institute

Anfinsen's Manifesto

Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum