Ines Mandl (April 4, 1917 – August 5, 2016) was an Austrian-born American
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 (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...
who was awarded the
Garvan-Olin Medal in 1983 for her work on the enzyme
collagenase. She was a professor at
Columbia University.
Early life and education
Ines Hochmuth was born in 1917, in
Vienna, the only child of Ernst and Ida (née Bassan) Hochmuth. She completed elementary and secondary school in Austria, then married one of her father's colleagues, Hans Mandl, and moved to London. In Ireland during World War II, she earned a diploma in chemical technology from
University College Cork.
After the war, she pursued graduate education in chemistry in the United States, earning a master's degree in 1947 and completing doctoral studies in 1949, at the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn (now
New York University Tandon School of Engineering).
She was one of the last students of
Carl Neuberg, the "Father of Biochemistry."
Career
Ines Mandl accepted a job in the surgery department at
Columbia University after finishing her PhD in 1949, and stayed at Columbia for the rest of her career. In 1950, she became the first scientist to extract collagenase from the bacterium
Clostridium histolyticum
''Hathewaya histolytica'' (formerly ''Clostridium histolyticum'') is a species of bacteria found in feces and the soil. It is a motile, gram-positive, aerotolerant anaerobe. ''H. histolytica'' is pathogenic in many species, including guinea pigs ...
.
[Andrew Pollack]
"Triumph for a Drug to Straighten Clenched Fingers"
''New York Times'' (March 15, 2010). Other work involved the study of respiratory distress in newborns, and the biochemistry of pulmonary
emphysema
Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...
. She held a teaching appointment in microbiology, and co-authored more than 140 academic publications.
["Pioneering Biochemist's NYU-Poly Fellowships Support Future Scientists"](_blank)
''Cable Alumni Magazine'' (Winter 2012).
In 1972, Mandl founded an academic journal in her field, ''Connective Tissue Research''; she was editor of the journal from its first issue until her retirement in 1986.
Her work was recognized in 1977 with the Carl Neuberg Medal from the American Society of European Chemists and Pharmacists, and in 1983 with the Garvan Medal from the
American Chemical Society. She was also awarded the
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the
New York Academy of Sciences.
Legacy
Ines Mandl made a substantial endowment to her alma mater, New York University Tandon School of Engineering, for undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships in chemical engineering and biological sciences.
In recent decades, collagenase has begun to find various practical medical applications.
The Ines Mandl Medical Foundation of Budapest held an award competition in celebration of Mandl's 90th birthday in 2007.
[Anna Kádár and J. Mathias Baló-Banga]
"An Award Competition in Honor of Dr. Mandl's Ninetieth Birthday"
''Connective Tissue Research'' 48(2)(2007): 124.
References
External links
Interview with Ines Mandlat the
Leo Baeck Institute Archives.
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandl, Ines
1917 births
2016 deaths
American women biochemists
Austrian emigrants to the United States
Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
21st-century American women