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In Memoriam

In memoriam: Bengt Samuelsson

Christopher Radka
Nov. 11, 2024

Bengt I. Samuelsson, a professor of medical biochemistry and biophysics at the Karolinska Institute, a lipid biochemist and a Nobel laureate died July 5. He was 90, and he had been a member of the 精品国产一区二区桃色 since 1976.

portrait of Bengt Samuelsson
Bengt Samuelsson

Samuelsson was born May 21, 1934 in Halmstad, Sweden. He completed undergraduate studies at the University of Lund in southern Sweden and then moved to the Karolinska Institute for graduate work in biochemistry. In 1960, he earned his doctorate under the mentorship of Sune Bergstr枚m, studying prostaglandin structural biology, and then in 1961 he obtained a medical degree. In 1962, he briefly moved to Harvard University for a research fellowship in the before returning to the Karolinska Institute in the same year to join the faculty.

Over the next 16 years, Samuelsson worked at multiple institutions including as a visiting professor at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until he became dean of the medical faculty at the Karolinska Institute from 1978 until 1983. Samuelsson shared the with John Vane and his doctoral mentor, Sune Bergstr枚m, for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances. Then, from 1983 to 1995, Samuelsson served as president of the Karolinska Institute.

Bergstr枚m, his doctoral mentor, had also served as both dean and president of the Karolinska Institute, as well as sharing the Nobel Prize. A describes the partnership between Samuelsson and Bergstr枚m in detail.

Prostaglandins are a family of oxidized derivatives of arachidonic acid that play crucial roles in various physiological processes, including inflammation, body temperature regulation, thrombosis, and allergic reactions. Samuelsson authored 324 publications that have been cited over 46,000 times and by more than 350 patents. In a paper that has been cited over 1,200 times, he demonstrated that homogenized sheep glands can convert [1-14C]arachidonic acid to prostaglandins G2 and H2. Notably, both of these prostaglandins are known to induce aggregation in human platelets. In a paper that has been cited over 3,600 times, Samuelsson reports the discovery and structure of thromboxane A2, which is a biologically active compound produced by human platelets during the conversion of prostaglandin G2 to thromboxane B2. Ischemic stroke, one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide,  is particularly associated . Samuelsson’s research on prostaglandins, thromboxane, and related biomolecules, identified the agents and their production processes. This foundational work has later facilitated a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying ischemic stroke.

G枚ran K Hansson, a professor of medicine, talked about the significance of Samuelsson’s work in a .

“Very few scientists can open up a whole new field of knowledge. But that is what Bengt Samuelsson did,” Hansson said. “Based on Ulf von Euler's and Sune Bergstr枚m's discovery of prostaglandin, he mapped an entire biochemical continent of signaling molecules in the human body, and found that they are of great importance in the blood circulation, the respiratory system, the genitals, the immune system, the nervous system and almost the entire body.”

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Christopher Radka

Christopher D. Radka is an assistant professor studying lipid biochemistry in the microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics department at the University of Kentucky. He is also an ASBMB Today volunteer contributor.

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