Otto Knut Olof Folin (April 4, 1867 – October 25, 1934) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-born

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chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

who is best known for his groundbreaking work at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

on practical micromethods for the determination of the constituents of protein-free blood filtrates and the discovery of

creatine phosphate Phosphocreatine, also known as creatine phosphate (CP) or PCr (Pcr), is a phosphorylated form of creatine that serves as a rapidly mobilizable reserve of high-energy phosphates in skeletal muscle, myocardium and the brain to recycle adenosine trip ...

in muscles.

Background

Folin was born in Åseda,

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized f ...

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. He was the seventh of twelve children of Nils Magnus Folin and Eva Olson. He moved to America at the age of fifteen following two brothers and an aunt who had already settled there. He carried on his schooling in Stillwater, Minnesota. He moved to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

entering the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

and completed his B.S in 1892.

Career

In 1896, Folin returned to Sweden and began his research in the laboratory of Prof. Olof Hammarsten (1841-1932) 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 during ...

. In 1897, he left to work in the laboratory of the chemist, Ernst Leopold Salkowski at the Pathological Institute of Charité (''Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin'') in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1890, he became a citizen of the

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. He joined 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 ...

gaining his Ph.D. in 1898. In 1899 he was appointed assistant professor at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. He moved to the McLean Hospital

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in 1900 as a research biochemist, eventually moving to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

in 1907 as an associate professor of biological chemistry, becoming the Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology in 1909. Together with

Vintilă Ciocâlteu Vintilă Ciocâlteu (; Dolj, April 12, 1890 – Bucharest, February 3, 1947) was a Romanian physician, researcher, professor and author. Biography Ciocâlteu was born in Plenița, Dolj County, Romania. He distinguished himself throughout medica ...

Otto Folin designed the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent to detect polyphenols. In 1920, he co-developed with Hsien Wu the

Folin-Wu method Glycaemia, also known as blood sugar level, blood sugar concentration, or blood glucose level is the measure of glucose concentrated in the blood of humans or other animals. Approximately 4 grams of glucose, a simple sugar, is present in the b ...

of assaying glucose in protein-free filtrates of blood. Folin was elected the president of the American Society of Biological Chemists (now the

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel ( Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Ph ...

) in 1909. He was a member of the editorial board of the

Journal of Biological Chemistry The ''Journal of Biological Chemistry'' (''JBC'') is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1905., jbc.org Since 1925, it is published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research i ...

. He was elected to 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 Nat ...

and was awarded the

Carl Wilhelm Scheele Carl Wilhelm Scheele (, ; 9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a Swedish German pharmaceutical chemist. Scheele discovered oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified molybdenum, tungsten, barium, hydr ...

Medal of the

Swedish Chemical Society The Swedish Chemical Society () was established in 1883 and is a nonprofit organisation to promote the development of chemistry in Sweden. The society is based on Wallingatan, Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Swede ...

in 1930.

Selected works

*''Approximately complete analyses of thirty "normal" urines'' (1905) *''Chemical problems in hospital practice'' (1908) *''Nitrogen retention in the blood in experimental acute nephritis in the cat'' (1912) *''Preservatives and other chemicals in foods: Their use and abuse (1914) * ''On the determination of creatinine and creatine in urine'' (1914) *''Recent biochemical investigations on blood and urine;: Their bearing on clinical and experimental medicine'' (1917) * ''A System of Blood Analysis'' by Folin and Wu (1919) *''Laboratory Manual of Biological Chemistry with Supplement'' (1925)

References

Sources

*Schaffer, Phillip ''Otto Folin: (1867–1934)'' (Journal of Nutrition. volume 52, issue 1, pages 3–11. 1954

*Edsall, John T. ''A Biomedical Pioneer: Otto Folin'' (Science 12 May 1989:Vol. 244. no. 4905, pp. 719 - 720

External links

Otto Folin in biochemistry lab at McLean Hospital
{{DEFAULTSORT:Folin, Otto 1867 births 1934 deaths People from Uppvidinge Municipality American Lutherans Swedish emigrants to the United States American biochemists Harvard Medical School faculty West Virginia University faculty University of Chicago alumni University of Minnesota alumni