Biochemist And Pharmacologist: Gertrude B. Elion
Gertrude B. Elion
Introduction
Gertrude Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. Her main attribute was developing a range of drugs through the use of new research methods, which would later contribute to the development of AZT, which is a treatment.
Personal Life
She was born on January 23rd 1918 in New York, to Lithuanian immigrant parents. As stated in her biography for the Nobel Prize, even as a child she had “an insatiable thirst for knowledge” which is what kept her motivated to succeed and helped her to pursue a career within science. The biggest factor as to why she chose to study science was the death of her grandfather, who died of cancer when she was 15 years old. She graduated with a degree in Chemistry from Hunter College. Once graduated, she struggled to find a job due to the lack of laboratories hiring women. To support herself whilst she continued to research diseases part-time she worked as a substitute high school teacher (Biography.com Editors, 2014).
Career and Research …show more content…
It all began when she ‘was offered another position working with nucleic acids alongside Hitchings at Burroughs Wellcome Company’ (American Chemical Society, N.D). They decided not to use the normal method of trial and error but instead looked in depth at ways to kill pathogens or stop them reproducing. This technique lead to the development of drugs such as 6-mercaptopurine which was the first treatment for leukemia. She was also able to produce pyrimethamine, which is key drug used to treat malaria (Chemical Heritage Foundation,
Introduction
Gertrude Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. Her main attribute was developing a range of drugs through the use of new research methods, which would later contribute to the development of AZT, which is a treatment.
Personal Life
She was born on January 23rd 1918 in New York, to Lithuanian immigrant parents. As stated in her biography for the Nobel Prize, even as a child she had “an insatiable thirst for knowledge” which is what kept her motivated to succeed and helped her to pursue a career within science. The biggest factor as to why she chose to study science was the death of her grandfather, who died of cancer when she was 15 years old. She graduated with a degree in Chemistry from Hunter College. Once graduated, she struggled to find a job due to the lack of laboratories hiring women. To support herself whilst she continued to research diseases part-time she worked as a substitute high school teacher (Biography.com Editors, 2014).
Career and Research …show more content…
It all began when she ‘was offered another position working with nucleic acids alongside Hitchings at Burroughs Wellcome Company’ (American Chemical Society, N.D). They decided not to use the normal method of trial and error but instead looked in depth at ways to kill pathogens or stop them reproducing. This technique lead to the development of drugs such as 6-mercaptopurine which was the first treatment for leukemia. She was also able to produce pyrimethamine, which is key drug used to treat malaria (Chemical Heritage Foundation,