Toshio Narahashi (January 30, 1927 – April 21, 2013) was an internationally known pharmacologist. He was the John Evans Professor of Pharmacology and former chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Northwestern University
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 ...
, where he served on the faculty from 1977 to 2013. Prior, he was vice chairman of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, where he served on the faculty from 1962 to 1977. He is considered by many to be the "founding father of neurotoxicology" and is credited with discovering how
tetrodotoxin
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an order that includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Although tetrodotoxin was discovered ...
, the poison in puffer fish, immobilizes parts of the nervous system.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Narahashi received an undergraduate degree in agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1948. According to the Chicago Tribune, "He began his career studying insecticides in an entomology lab. His findings in the lab helped form the basis of 26 published papers and a doctorate in neurotoxicology that he would earn in 1960 from the University of Tokyo."
He came to the U.S. in 1961 and quickly found work as a postdoctoral researcher at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
before joining the faculty at Duke University.
Narahashi's seminal discoveries are:
* Ion channels as a basis for insecticidal actions
* Nerve sensitivity as a basis for the negative temperature dependence of insecticidal action of
DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
* Nerve sensitivity as a major mechanism explaining insecticide resistance leading eventually to the current concept of kdr and super-kdr
* Tetrodotoxin (TTX), the puffer fish poison, blocks sodium channels selectively and potently
Narahashi received numerous awards during his career, including:
* Society Award from the Society of Entomology and Zoology (1955)
* Cole Award from the Biophysical Society
* Javets Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health (1986–1993)
* Burdick & Jackson International Award from the American Chemical Society (1989)
* Merit Award from the Society of Toxicology (1991)
*
Otto Krayer
Otto Hermann Krayer (22 October 1899 in Teningen#Köndringen, Köndringen, Großherzogtum Baden, Baden – 18 March 1982 in Tucson, Arizona) was a German-American physician, pharmacologist and university professor.
He was the only German scientist ...
Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (2000)
* First Distinguished Investigator Lifetime Achievement Award in Neurotoxicology from the Society of Toxicology Neurotoxicology Specialty Section (2001)
* Honorary Member of the Japanese Pharmacology Society (2002)
* Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award from the Society of Toxicology (2008)
References
Chicago TribuneDuke University TodaySociety of ToxicologyASPET website: Toshio Narahashi (1927 – 2013), founding father of neurotoxicology...
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1927 births
2013 deaths
People from Tokyo
American pharmacologists
Northwestern University faculty
Duke University faculty
Japanese emigrants to the United States
University of Tokyo alumni
University of Chicago staff