Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson (born 21 May 1934) is a Swedish
biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological ch ...
. He shared with
Sune K. Bergström and
John R. Vane
Sir John Robert Vane (29 March 1927 – 19 November 2004) was a British pharmacologist who was instrumental in the understanding of how aspirin produces pain-relief and anti-inflammatory effects and his work led to new treatments for heart and b ...
the 1982
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning
prostaglandin
The prostaglandins (PG) are a group of physiologically active lipid compounds called eicosanoids having diverse hormone-like effects in animals. Prostaglandins have been found in almost every tissue in humans and other animals. They are deriv ...
s and related substances.
Swedish Medical Association's Jubilee Award
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Education and early life
He was born in Halmstad
Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city at the mouth of the Nissan river, in the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat of Halmstad Municipality and the capital of Halland County. The ...
in southwest Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
and studied at Stockholm University
Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, ...
, where he became a professor in 1967.
Research and career
Discussing the role of prostaglandin
The prostaglandins (PG) are a group of physiologically active lipid compounds called eicosanoids having diverse hormone-like effects in animals. Prostaglandins have been found in almost every tissue in humans and other animals. They are deriv ...
s in the body, Samuelsson explained, "It's a control system for the cells that participates in many biological functions. There are endless possibilities of manipulating this system in drug development."
His research interests were originally in cholesterol
Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell memb ...
metabolism with importance to reaction mechanisms. Following the structural work on prostaglandins along with Sune Bergström he was interested mainly in the transformation products of arachidonic acid
Arachidonic acid (AA, sometimes ARA) is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid 20:4(ω-6), or 20:4(5,8,11,14). It is structurally related to the saturated arachidic acid found in cupuaçu butter. Its name derives from the New Latin word ''ara ...
. This has led to the identification
of endoperoxide
In organic chemistry, organic peroxides are organic compounds containing the peroxide functional group (). If the R′ is hydrogen, the compounds are called hydroperoxides, which are discussed in that article. The O−O bond of peroxides easi ...
s, thromboxanes and the leukotrienes, and his group has chiefly been involved in studying the chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...
, biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
and biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
of these compounds and their function in biological control systems. This research has implications in numerous clinical areas, especially in thrombosis
Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (th ...
, inflammation
Inflammation (from la, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants, and is a protective response involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molec ...
, and allergy
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derm ...
.
This field has grown enormously since those days. Between 1981 and 1995 about three thousand papers per year were published that specifically used the expression "prostaglandins," or related terms such as "prostacyclins," "leukotrienes," and "thromboxanes," in their labels and titles.
Bengt Samuelsson has served as a director on the boards of Pharmacia AB, NicOx SA and Schering AG and is an advisor to the venture capital fund HealthCap.
Awards and honors
In 1975, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemis ...
from Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
together with Sune K. Bergström. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1990.[
]
References
External links
* including the Nobel Lecture ''From Studies of Biochemical Mechanisms to Novel Biological Mediators: Prostaglandin Endoperoxides, Thromboxanes and Leukotrienes''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelsson, Bengt Ingemar
1934 births
Living people
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Swedish biochemists
Stockholm University alumni
Karolinska Institute faculty
Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
Swedish Nobel laureates
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
People from Halmstad
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences