Fridolin Sulser (2 December 1926 – 3 January 2016) was a Swiss-American

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemic ...

who specialized in the treatment of

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

Life and work

He was born in Grabs, Switzerland and grew up in the town of

Maienfeld Maienfeld ( rm, Maiavilla) is a municipality in the Landquart Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is a tourist destination in the Alps, both because of the local wine and because it was the setting of the story ''Heidi''. History ...

. He graduated from the Humanistische Gymnasium in

Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxe ...

in 1947 and left to attend respectively school at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

(pre-clinical) and the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

(clinical), graduating from the latter with an M.D. in 1955. During his college years he was highly influenced by the works of

Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (, ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspe ...

. This influence has pushed him towards experimental biology, culminating in a decision to move from

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

to pharmacology. Before having been appointed assistant professor at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

, he served a mandatory 2-year term officer in the Swiss Army. He moved with his family to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the fall of 1958, having obtained a post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychopharmacology at the

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 ...

in Bethesda, M.D, funded by Swiss Academy. At the time he established his long-standing interest in brain research. At the NIH, he started working in the laboratory of Bernard Brodie, focusing on the mechanism of action of imipramine. His collaboration with Jim Dingell at NIH led to the discovery of desmethylimipramine. In 1962 he went to Burroughs Wellcome Research Labs in New York as Head of Pharmacology. In 1965 he joined the

Vanderbilt University Medical School Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is a graduate medical school of Vanderbilt University located in Nashville, Tennessee. Located in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the southeastern side of the Vanderbilt University campus, the S ...

Faculty as professor and Director of the Pharmacology Research Center. He gained recognition for an early hypothesis of the mechanism of action of antidepressant drugs, suggesting in 1975, together with Jerzy Vetulani, that

downregulation In the biological context of organisms' production of gene products, downregulation is the process by which a cell decreases the quantity of a cellular component, such as RNA or protein, in response to an external stimulus. The complementary pr ...

of beta- adrenergic receptors is responsible for their effects.Sulser F., Vetulani J.: ''Action of various antidepressant treatments reduces reactivity of noradrenergic cyclic AMP generating system in limbic forebrain'', ''

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 are ...

'', 257, 1975. He was made Professor Emeritus of the University in 2000. Sulser received several honors during his research career, including the Anna-Monika Prize. He was a Fellow and President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology as well as a Fellow of the Collegium International Neuro-Psychopharmacologium. He died on January 3, 2016, and was survived by his brother Emil Sulser, wife, Johanna Mooser Sulser, and children Anna (Sulser) Newton, Adrian Sulser, Daniel Sulser, and Bettina (Sulser) Bryant and eight grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulser, Fridolin 1926 births 2016 deaths Swiss pharmacologists American pharmacologists University of Zurich alumni Vanderbilt University faculty Swiss emigrants to the United States