Bengt I. Samuelsson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bengt Samuelsson
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Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson
21 May 1934 Halmstad, Sweden
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| Died | 7 July 2024 (age 90) Stockholm, Sweden
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| Nationality | Swedish |
| Alma mater | Lund University |
| Known for | prostaglandins |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson (21 May 1934 – 7 July 2024) was a Swedish biochemist. He shared with Sune K. Bergström and John R. Vane the 1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances.
Education and early life
Samuelsson was born in Halmstad in southwest Sweden, studied at Lund University, and was a professor in medical and physiological chemistry at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 1973. He was president of Karolinska Institute 1982-1995 and chairman of the Nobel Foundation 1993-2005.
Research and career
Discussing the role of prostaglandins in the body, Samuelsson explained, "It's a control system for the cells that participates in many biological functions. There are endless possibilities of manipulating this system in drug development."
His research interests were originally in cholesterol metabolism with importance to reaction mechanisms. Following the structural work on prostaglandins along with Sune Bergström he was interested mainly in the transformation products of arachidonic acid. This has led to the identification of endoperoxides, thromboxanes and the leukotrienes, and his group has chiefly been involved in studying the chemistry, biochemistry and biology of these compounds and their function in biological control systems. This research has implications in numerous clinical areas, especially in thrombosis, inflammation, and allergy.
This field has grown enormously since those days. Between 1981 and 1995 about three thousand papers per year were published that specifically used the expression "prostaglandins," or related terms such as "prostacyclins," "leukotrienes," and "thromboxanes," in their labels and titles.
Samuelsson has served as a director on the boards of Pharmacia AB, NicOx SA and Schering AG and was an advisor to the venture capital fund HealthCap.
Awards and honours
In 1975, Samuelsson was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University together with Sune K. Bergström. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1990.
See also
In Spanish: Bengt Samuelsson para niños
