Laszlo Lorand (23 March 1923 – 6 December 2018) was a

Hungarian-American Hungarian Americans ( Hungarian: ''amerikai magyarok'') are Americans of Hungarian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are approximately 1.396 million Americans of Hungarian descent as of 2018. The total number of people wit ...

biochemist who studied clotting of blood and other bodily fluids. A professor emeritus in

cell and molecular biology Cell and molecular biology are related fields of biology that are often combined. * Cell biology * Molecular biology * Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (disambiguation) * GRE Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology Test * '' International ...

at the

Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is the medical school of Northwestern University and is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1859, Feinberg offers a full-time Doctor of Medicine degree p ...

, Lorand was a longtime professor in the departments of chemistry and molecular biosciences at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

before transferring to Northwestern's medical school. Lorand was a co-discoverer of the substance that later became known as

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 XI ...

. He was a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

Biography

Lorand was born in Győr, Hungary. His father was murdered in

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, but he himself managed to avoid being sent there. Lorand was a Holocaust survivor and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He submitted a record of his experiences in the Holocaust to the Yad Vaashem witness data base programme in Israel.https://www.mbl.edu/obituaries/laszlo-lorand/ He studied medicine in Hungary and received an absolutorium from the

University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. In Hungary, he was mentored by biochemists

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 ...

and

Kalman Laki 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. He was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientist. Biography Bo ...

. Owing to events related to the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, Lorand left Budapest for England in December 1948, just after finishing his medical school coursework. The biomolecular structure department at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

was chaired by physicist and molecular biologist

William Astbury William Thomas Astbury FRS (25 February 1898 – 4 June 1961) was an English physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules. His work on keratin provided the foundation for Linus Pauling ...

. He became interested in Lorand's prior work on the viscosity of

fibrin Fibrin (also called Factor Ia) is a fibrous, non-globular protein involved in the clotting of blood. It is formed by the action of the protease thrombin on fibrinogen, which causes it to polymerize. The polymerized fibrin, together with platele ...

. Lorand earned a Ph.D. in biomolecular structure from Leeds in 1951. Lorand was a professor at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

, and then he came to Northwestern and spent many years in the departments of chemistry and molecular biosciences. In 1993, he transferred to Northwestern's

. Lorand is associated with the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute. He was the co-editor of ''Proteolytic Enzymes'', a volume of the scientific series ''

Methods in Enzymology ''Methods in Enzymology'' is a book-series of scientific publications focused primarily on research methods in biochemistry by Academic Press, created by Sidney P. Colowick and Nathan O. Kaplan. Content Historically, each volume has centered o ...

''. He was a co-discoverer of

, which was formerly referred to as Laki–Lorand factor and fibrin stabilizing factor. In 1983, Lorand was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

from the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

. He was elected to the

in 1987. Lorand met Joyce Bruner, also a scientist, in 1953. They later married, and Joyce Bruner-Lorand collaborated with her husband on NIH-funded studies at Northwestern for many years. Joyce died in 2010. Lorand died in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorand, Laszlo 1923 births 2018 deaths American biochemists Hungarian biochemists Northwestern University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Alumni of the University of Leeds Budapest University alumni Hungarian emigrants to the United States Wayne State University faculty Hungarian expatriates in the United Kingdom