Gertrude B. Elion facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gertrude Elion
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Gertrude Belle Elion
January 23, 1918 |
| Died | February 21, 1999 (aged 81) |
| Alma mater | Hunter College New York University |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions |
|
Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion (born January 23, 1918 – died February 21, 1999) was an amazing American biochemist and pharmacologist. She won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two other scientists, George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black. They were honored for their smart way of creating new medicines. Instead of just trying different things, they focused on understanding how drugs work inside the body.
Gertrude's work led to many important medicines. One was AZT, the first widely used drug to fight AIDS. She also helped create azathioprine, a medicine that helps people accept new organs after a organ transplant. Another big success was acyclovir (ACV), the first successful drug to treat herpes infections.
Contents
Early Life and Education Journey
Gertrude Elion was born in New York City on January 23, 1918. Her father, Robert Elion, was a dentist from Lithuania. Her mother, Bertha Cohen, was from Poland. When Gertrude was 11, her family lost a lot of money during the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Gertrude was a brilliant student. She finished Walton High School when she was just 15 years old. When her grandfather died from stomach cancer at that time, it made her want to study science and medicine. She went to Hunter College for free because her grades were so good. She graduated in 1937 with a degree in chemistry.
After college, it was hard for Gertrude to find a paying job in research because she was a woman. She worked as a secretary and a high school teacher. She even worked for free in a chemistry lab to gain experience. She saved enough money to go to New York University and earned her master's degree in 1941. She still taught high school during the day. Gertrude later said that being able to attend Hunter College for free was the only reason she could continue her education as a young woman.
Starting a Career in Science
Gertrude had many different jobs early in her career. She worked as a food quality supervisor and tested things like pickles and egg yolks. She then worked at Johnson & Johnson, testing surgical threads.
In 1944, she got a big break. She started working with George H. Hitchings at a drug company called Burroughs-Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline). Hitchings had a new idea for making medicines. Instead of just trying different chemicals, he wanted to design drugs that would trick disease-causing cells. He hoped to stop these bad cells from growing without harming healthy cells.
Gertrude helped him create special chemicals called anti-metabolites. In 1950, they developed two anti-cancer drugs: tioguanine and mercaptopurine.
Gertrude wanted to get her Ph.D. She took classes at night at New York University Tandon School of Engineering. But after a few years, she was told she had to study full-time. Gertrude decided to keep her job and stop pursuing her Ph.D. She never got a formal Ph.D., but she later received honorary doctorates from universities like New York University and Harvard University.
Personal Life and Hobbies
After graduating from Hunter College, Gertrude met Leonard Canter. They planned to get married, but sadly, Leonard died from a heart infection in 1941. Gertrude said this loss made her even more determined to become a research scientist.
Gertrude never married or had children of her own. However, she was very close to her brother and loved watching her three nephews and one niece grow up. She enjoyed photography, traveling, going to the opera and ballet, and listening to music.
After her company moved, Gertrude moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She retired in 1983 but continued to work almost full-time in the lab. She loved encouraging other women to pursue careers in science. Gertrude Elion passed away in North Carolina in 1999, at the age of 81.
Amazing Discoveries and Research
Gertrude Elion worked for many important organizations, including the National Cancer Institute and the World Health Organization. From 1967 to 1983, she led the experimental therapy department at Burroughs Wellcome. Even after officially retiring in 1983, she kept working in the lab.
She was also a professor at Duke University from 1971 to 1999. There, she helped many medical and graduate students. She published over 25 research papers with the students she mentored.
Gertrude played a huge part in developing AZT, one of the first drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS. She also worked on a cancer drug called nelarabine until her death.
Gertrude and George Hitchings used a special method called rational drug design. This meant they studied the differences between healthy human cells and disease-causing germs (like cancer cells, bacteria, and viruses). Then, they designed drugs that could attack only the bad cells without harming the good ones.
Their work led to medicines for many illnesses, including:
- Mercaptopurine (Purinethol), used for leukemia and organ transplants.
- Azathioprine (Imuran), the first drug to prevent the body from rejecting organ transplants.
- Allopurinol (Zyloprim), for gout.
- Pyrimethamine (Daraprim), for malaria.
- Trimethoprim (Proloprim, Monoprim, others), for infections like meningitis and bacterial infections.
- Acyclovir (Zovirax), for viral herpes.
- Nelarabine for cancer treatment.
Awards and Special Honors
In 1988, Gertrude Elion received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She shared it with George Hitchings and Sir James Black. They were recognized for finding "important new principles of drug treatment." Gertrude was one of the few Nobel winners who didn't have a formal doctoral degree. She was also the only woman to win a Nobel Prize that year.
She received many other awards, including:
- The Garvan-Olin Medal (1968)
- The National Medal of Science (1991)
- The Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
In 1991, Gertrude Elion became the first woman to be included in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame that same year. In 1995, she became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, a very respected scientific group in the UK.
See also
In Spanish: Gertrude Belle Elion para niños
- Timeline of women in science
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
