Seymour Hutner: Difference between revisions
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After graduating from Cornell, he joined the physicist [[Franklin Cooper]] and the geneticist [[Caryl Haskins]] to form an independent research laboratory, the [[Haskins Laboratories]], near M.I.T. in Cambridge., Mass. After World War II the lab moved to a building on East 43rd Street in New York City, and he was joined by a newly arrived Italian scientist, [[Luigi Provasoli]], who had spent time in the laboratory of [[Andre Lwoff]] in Paris. In New York, during the 1950’s and 60’s, Haskins Labs became known for studies of protistan nutrition and the development of culture media and culture assay methods. Hutner was one of the first to appreciate the importance of organic complexing agents in trace metal nutrition of cells <ref name=H48>Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120</ref>. |
After graduating from Cornell, he joined the physicist [[Franklin Cooper]] and the geneticist [[Caryl Haskins]] to form an independent research laboratory, the [[Haskins Laboratories]], near M.I.T. in Cambridge., Mass. After World War II the lab moved to a building on East 43rd Street in New York City, and he was joined by a newly arrived Italian scientist, [[Luigi Provasoli]], who had spent time in the laboratory of [[Andre Lwoff]] in Paris. In New York, during the 1950’s and 60’s, Haskins Labs became known for studies of protistan nutrition and the development of culture media and culture assay methods. Hutner was one of the first to appreciate the importance of organic complexing agents in trace metal nutrition of cells <ref name=H48>Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120</ref>. |
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<ref name=H50>Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120</ref>. This had significant implications for the development of culture media and also in the understanding of microbial ecology. With his colleague Luigi Provasoli he showed that photosynthetic organisms could be ‘bleached’ by the antibiotic [[streptomycin]] – an early clue of the [[ |
<ref name=H50>Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120</ref>. This had significant implications for the development of culture media and also in the understanding of microbial ecology. With his colleague Luigi Provasoli he showed that photosynthetic organisms could be ‘bleached’ by the antibiotic [[streptomycin]] – an early clue of the [[Endosymbiotic theory|endosymbiotic hypothesis]] about the origin of [[chloroplast]]s from a prokaryotic ancestor <ref=P48>Provasoli, L., Hutner, S.H., Schatz, A. 1948. Streptomycin-induced chlorophyll-less races of Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 69, 279-282</ref>. |
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At 43rd St., Hutner became known for nurturing young students at a time when this was not a typical pattern, and the lab served as an incubator for many talented high school and undergraduate students, without regard to race or gender. Some of these went on to become productive scientists, including 2 Nobel laureates, [[Joshua Lederberg]] and [[David Baltimore]]. While full time at the lab, Hutner also spent several years on the faculties of Columbia and Fordham Universities in this period. He also edited, with Andre Lwoff (and later in a second edition with Michael Levandowsky), a multivolume compendium, the ''Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa'', that was for many years a standard reference <ref name=L51>Lwoff, A. (Ed.) 1951. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 1st Ed., Vol. 1. Academic Press, N.Y.</ref>; <HL55>Hutner,S.H., Lwoff, A. (Eds.) 1955. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 1st Ed., Vol. 2. Academic Press, NY</ref>; <ref=H1964 Hutner, S.H. (Ed). Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa 1st Ed., Vol. 3, Academic Press, N.Y.</ref>, <ref=LH79> Levandowsky, M., Hutner, S.H. (Eds.) 1979-1981. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 2nd Ed., Vols. 1-4. Academic Press, N.Y. </ref> . |
At 43rd St., Hutner became known for nurturing young students at a time when this was not a typical pattern, and the lab served as an incubator for many talented high school and undergraduate students, without regard to race or gender. Some of these went on to become productive scientists, including 2 Nobel laureates, [[Joshua Lederberg]] and [[David Baltimore]]. While full time at the lab, Hutner also spent several years on the faculties of Columbia and Fordham Universities in this period. He also edited, with Andre Lwoff (and later in a second edition with Michael Levandowsky), a multivolume compendium, the ''Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa'', that was for many years a standard reference <ref name=L51>Lwoff, A. (Ed.) 1951. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 1st Ed., Vol. 1. Academic Press, N.Y.</ref>; <HL55>Hutner,S.H., Lwoff, A. (Eds.) 1955. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 1st Ed., Vol. 2. Academic Press, NY</ref>; <ref=H1964 Hutner, S.H. (Ed). Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa 1st Ed., Vol. 3, Academic Press, N.Y.</ref>, <ref=LH79> Levandowsky, M., Hutner, S.H. (Eds.) 1979-1981. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 2nd Ed., Vols. 1-4. Academic Press, N.Y. </ref> . |
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He was a founding member of the Society of Protozoologists (now the [[International Society of Protistologists]]) serving as its president in 1961-2, and was for many years on the editorial board of the [[Journal of Protozoology]] (now the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology). In 1977 an issue of the journal was dedicated to him <ref=L77>Levandowsky, M. (Ed.) 1977. A collection of papers dedicated to Seymour H. Hutner. J. Protozool. 24 (4)</ref>. He died in 2003 after a long illness; an obituary appeared in the ''[[Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology]]'' <Lee, John J. and Michael Levandowsky 2003. "In Memoriam: Seymour H. Hutner (1911-2003)." J. Eukaryotic Microbiology 50, 305- 6.</ref> |
He was a founding member of the Society of Protozoologists (now the [[International Society of Protistologists]]) serving as its president in 1961-2, and was for many years on the editorial board of the [[Journal of Protozoology]] (now the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology). In 1977 an issue of the journal was dedicated to him <ref=L77>Levandowsky, M. (Ed.) 1977. A collection of papers dedicated to Seymour H. Hutner. J. Protozool. 24 (4)</ref>. He died in 2003 after a long illness; an obituary appeared in the ''[[Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology]]'' <Lee, John J. and Michael Levandowsky 2003. "In Memoriam: Seymour H. Hutner (1911-2003)." J. Eukaryotic Microbiology 50, 305- 6.</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
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Revision as of 18:41, 21 August 2011
Seymour H. Hutner (1911-2003) was a microbiologist specializing in the nutritional biochemistry of protists (protozoa and algae). Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1911, he obtained a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York (CCNY) in 1931 and a Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1937, where he worked with the Nobel laureate James Sumner.
In 1936 he published a paper showing that the photosynthetic flagellate Euglena had a nutritional requirement for a substance extracted from animal tissue. At that time this was considered to be improbable and the paper was rejected by several American journals before eventually being published in Europe [1]. Years later it was discovered that the required factor was vitamin B12, or cyanocobalamin. He developed a nutritional assay method for vitamin B12 using Euglena that was used for many years in hospitals to test for B12 levels in blood, eventually being replaced by other methods [2]
After graduating from Cornell, he joined the physicist Franklin Cooper and the geneticist Caryl Haskins to form an independent research laboratory, the Haskins Laboratories, near M.I.T. in Cambridge., Mass. After World War II the lab moved to a building on East 43rd Street in New York City, and he was joined by a newly arrived Italian scientist, Luigi Provasoli, who had spent time in the laboratory of Andre Lwoff in Paris. In New York, during the 1950’s and 60’s, Haskins Labs became known for studies of protistan nutrition and the development of culture media and culture assay methods. Hutner was one of the first to appreciate the importance of organic complexing agents in trace metal nutrition of cells [3]. [4]. This had significant implications for the development of culture media and also in the understanding of microbial ecology. With his colleague Luigi Provasoli he showed that photosynthetic organisms could be ‘bleached’ by the antibiotic streptomycin – an early clue of the endosymbiotic hypothesis about the origin of chloroplasts from a prokaryotic ancestor <ref=P48>Provasoli, L., Hutner, S.H., Schatz, A. 1948. Streptomycin-induced chlorophyll-less races of Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 69, 279-282</ref>.
At 43rd St., Hutner became known for nurturing young students at a time when this was not a typical pattern, and the lab served as an incubator for many talented high school and undergraduate students, without regard to race or gender. Some of these went on to become productive scientists, including 2 Nobel laureates, Joshua Lederberg and David Baltimore. While full time at the lab, Hutner also spent several years on the faculties of Columbia and Fordham Universities in this period. He also edited, with Andre Lwoff (and later in a second edition with Michael Levandowsky), a multivolume compendium, the Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, that was for many years a standard reference [5]; <HL55>Hutner,S.H., Lwoff, A. (Eds.) 1955. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 1st Ed., Vol. 2. Academic Press, NY</ref>; <ref=H1964 Hutner, S.H. (Ed). Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa 1st Ed., Vol. 3, Academic Press, N.Y.</ref>, <ref=LH79> Levandowsky, M., Hutner, S.H. (Eds.) 1979-1981. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 2nd Ed., Vols. 1-4. Academic Press, N.Y. </ref> .
In 1970 the lab was required to leave its quarters at 43rd St. Franklin Cooper and Luigi Provasoli went to Yale University, but Hutner preferred to remain in New York and moved his part of the lab to Pace University in Lower Manhattan, where he became a professor. At this location the lab became a center for metabolic studies of protistan parasites. Under the leadership of his student, Cyrus Bacchi, this led to development of the antiparasitic drug efflornithine (alpha-difluoromethylornithine) <ref=B80>Bacchi, C.J., Nathan, H.C., Hutner, S.H., McCann, P.P., Sjoerdsma, A. 1980. Polyamine metabolism: a potential chemotherapeutic target in trypanosomes. Science 210, 323-334</ref>, widely used today against African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). Work on antiparasitic drugs continues today under the direction of Nigel Yarlett.
He was a founding member of the Society of Protozoologists (now the International Society of Protistologists) serving as its president in 1961-2, and was for many years on the editorial board of the Journal of Protozoology (now the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology). In 1977 an issue of the journal was dedicated to him <ref=L77>Levandowsky, M. (Ed.) 1977. A collection of papers dedicated to Seymour H. Hutner. J. Protozool. 24 (4)</ref>. He died in 2003 after a long illness; an obituary appeared in the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology <Lee, John J. and Michael Levandowsky 2003. "In Memoriam: Seymour H. Hutner (1911-2003)." J. Eukaryotic Microbiology 50, 305- 6.</ref>
References
- ^ Hutner, S.H. 1936. The nutritional requirements of two species of Euglena. Arch. Protistenkunde 88, 93-106.
- ^ Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120.
- ^ Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120
- ^ Hutner, S.H. Provasoli, L., Stokstad, E.L., Haffman, C.E., Bell, M., Franklin, A.L., Jukes, T.H. 1949. Assay of anti-pernicious anemia factor with Euglena. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 70, 118-120
- ^ Lwoff, A. (Ed.) 1951. Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, 1st Ed., Vol. 1. Academic Press, N.Y.