Jerker Porath, (23 October 1921 – 21 January 2016) was 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 che ...

who invented several separation methods for

biomolecule A biomolecule or biological molecule is a loosely used term for molecules present in organisms that are essential to one or more typically biological processes, such as cell division, morphogenesis, or development. Biomolecules include larg ...

s. He was born in Sala.Editorial - 80th Birthday of Professor Jerker Porath
in ''Chromatographia'' (2001), vol. 54, p. 431-432 Porath studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance durin ...

and initially did research in

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clay ...

under Arne Fredga, where he got his licentiate degree. After a scholarship to an institute in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

he got an interest in biochemistry and switched to

Arne Tiselius Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius (10 August 1902 – 29 October 1971) was a Swedish biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1948 "for his research on electrophoresis and adsorption analysis, especially for his discoveries concerning ...

' department. Tiselius recommended Porath to make a research visit to Choh Hao Li and his Hormone Research Laboratory at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where Porath stayed 1951–1952. Back in Uppsala he developed methods for zone

electrophoresis Electrophoresis, from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, "amber") and φόρησις (phórēsis, "the act of bearing"), is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric f ...

and

ion exchange chromatography Ion chromatography (or ion-exchange chromatography) separates ions and polar molecules based on their affinity to the ion exchanger. It works on almost any kind of charged molecule—including large proteins, small nucleotides, and amino ...

for

hormone A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required ...

purification. He received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Uppsala 1957 with the thesis ''Zone electrophoresis in columns and adsorption chromatography on ionic cellulose derivatives as methods for peptide and protein fractionations: application to the study of posterior pituitary hormones''. The separation method for which Porath is most well known is gel filtration, which he developed together with

Per Flodin Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Math ...

. Flodin worked with

dextran Dextran is a complex branched glucan (polysaccharide derived from the condensation of glucose), originally derived from wine. IUPAC defines dextrans as "Branched poly-α-d-glucosides of microbial origin having glycosidic bonds predominantly C-1 � ...

research at Pharmacia. In 1957, Porath discovered that columns filled with dextran gel could be used as "

molecular sieve A molecular sieve is a material with pores (very small holes) of uniform size. These pore diameters are similar in size to small molecules, and thus large molecules cannot enter or be adsorbed, while smaller molecules can. As a mixture of molec ...

s" to separate biomolecules by size. After

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...

ing had been initiated, Porath and Flodin published their discoveries in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

'' on 13 June 1959.Gel filtration: a method for desalting and group separation, ''Nature'', vol. 183 (1959), s. 1657-1659 A short time thereafter, Pharmacia offered the product

Sephadex Sephadex is a cross-linked dextran gel used for gel filtration. It was launched by Pharmacia in 1959, after development work by Jerker Porath and Per Flodin. The name is derived from separation Pharmacia dextran. It is normally manufactured i ...

(Separation Pharmacia Dextran) on the market. Porath also worked on

affinity chromatography Affinity chromatography is a method of separating a biomolecule from a mixture, based on a highly specific macromolecular binding interaction between the biomolecule and another substance. The specific type of binding interaction depends on the ...

and was later appointed professor of biochemistry at Uppsala University. In 1971 he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or ''Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien'' (IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which pro ...

and a few years later a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He died in Lund in 2016 at the age of 94.

References

External links

Notice of death - Sydsvenskan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porath, Jerker 1921 births 2016 deaths Swedish biochemists 20th-century Swedish inventors Uppsala University alumni Uppsala University faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences People from Sala Municipality