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George PaladeAmerican biologist Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1974
Date of Birth: 19.11.1912
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of George Palade
George Emil Palade was born in Iași, Romania, in 1912. His father, Emil Palade, was a philosophy professor at the University of Iași, and his mother, Constanța Palade, was a primary school teacher. Palade completed his secondary education at the Hasdeu High School in Buzău and enrolled at the Medical School of the University of Bucharest in 1930. He was greatly influenced by Professor André Boivin, a biochemistry professor at the university, and Professor Francis Rainer, an anatomy professor who offered him a position as a research assistant.
After six years of work at the clinic and defending his dissertation on the microanatomy of the kidneys of marine mammals, Palade obtained his medical degree in 1940. He then became an assistant in internal medicine at the University of Bucharest. During World War II, he served in the Romanian army while continuing his work at the university. In 1945, with the help of Grigore Popa, Rainer's successor, Palade secured a position as a research assistant in the biology laboratory of New York University. During a seminar, he introduced himself to Albert Claude, who invited him to join his research group at the Rockefeller Institute (now Rockefeller University) and offered him a position as an invited researcher in 1946. Palade decided to stay in the United States after the communists came to power in Romania.
Contributions to Cell Biology
Albert Claude developed the methods of electron microscopy and cell fractionation, which involves separating the components of a cell using ultracentrifugation. Palade further improved these methods and used them to study the ultrastructural features and biochemical functions of organelles within cells. With the help of electron microscopy, Palade was able to observe and study the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, and Golgi apparatus. These structures play crucial roles in cellular processes, such as energy production, protein synthesis, and intracellular transport.
Palade's groundbreaking research led to a better understanding of how proteins are synthesized and secreted in exocrine cells of the pancreas. He discovered that proteins and secreted enzymes are first assembled in ribosomes attached to the endoplasmic reticulum. They are then transported to vacuoles in the cytoplasm through an energy-dependent process involving mitochondria. These proteins are stored in mature secretory granules before being released from the cell into the pancreatic ducts and eventually into the intestine for digestion.
Nobel Prize and Later Career
In recognition of his discoveries regarding the structural and functional organization of cells, Palade, Claude, and Christian de Duve were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974. Palade left the Rockefeller Institute and became a professor of cell biology at Yale University in 1973. He continued his research on the synthesis of cell and intracellular membranes, focusing on the vesicular transport theory.
Throughout his career, Palade received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to science. He was awarded the Passano Award for Medical Research by the Passano Foundation in 1964, the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1966, and the Thomas D. Jones and Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Special Award in 1966. He also received the Gardner Foundation Special Award in 1967 and the Honorary Prize of the University of New York. Palade was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Society of Cell Biology. In 1955, he founded the Journal of Cell Biology and served as its editor.
Palade passed away on October 7, 2008, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in the field of cell biology. His research revolutionized our understanding of cellular structures and processes, and his work continues to inspire scientists in their pursuit of knowledge.
