Kalman Laki (February 1, 1909 – February 12, 1983), sometimes referred to as Koloman Laki, was a Hungarian-American biochemist who contributed to the discovery of

factor XIII Factor XIII or fibrin stabilizing factor is a zymogen found in blood of humans and some other animals. It is activated by thrombin to factor XIIIa. Factor XIIIa is an enzyme of the blood coagulation system that crosslinks fibrin. Deficiency of X ...

. He was a

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH) scientist.

Biography

Born in Szolnok, Hungary, Laki completed doctoral studies in chemistry at the

University of Szeged , mottoeng = Truth. Bravery. Freedom. , established = , type = Public research university , founder = Emperor Franz Joseph I , affiliation = European University Association, Science Without Borders, Confucius Institute , budget = US$220 m ...

before coming to the United States in 1947 as an NIH scientist. He was the chief of the biophysical chemistry laboratory at the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. In 1970, he became the head of a physical biochemistry laboratory at the institute. Laki and biochemist Laszlo Lorand (whom Laki had recruited to

Albert Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt ( hu, nagyrápolti Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre; September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with fi ...

's laboratory when Lorand was a medical student) worked on biochemical research in

coagulation Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanis ...

. A substance they identified, initially named Laki–Lorand factor, became known as

. Laki was awarded an honorary medical degree from the

University of Debrecen ThUniversity of Debrecen( hu, Debreceni Egyetem) is a university located in Debrecen, Hungary. It is the oldest continuously operating institution of higher education in Hungary ever since its establishment in 1538 by Suleiman the Magnificent f ...

. Laki died at Fairfax Hospital in 1983. He had been in the hospital after minor surgery when he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laki, Kalman 1909 births 1983 deaths Hungarian biochemists National Institutes of Health people University of Szeged alumni Recipients of the Kossuth Prize Hungarian emigrants to the United States