Gregory Logan-Graf. Biochemist Gertrude Elion was a tenacious and driven woman whose boundless contributions to drug development are still appreciated today. During her training she experienced challenges that were no match for her determination. Elion broke barriers in a male-dominated field of medical science and discovered effective treatments for dozens of diseases, including leukemia and HIV. Unable to find a job in a research laboratory because she was a woman, Elion found work at a laboratory for a food company, where she performed tedious tasks such as measuring the acidity of pickle juice.
While she was working with Hitchings, she started a PhD program, taking evening classes at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. After years of long commutes, she realized that she would no longer be able to complete her doctorate without becoming a full-time student.
She enjoyed her work so much that she decided to leave the PhD program and focus on her research. Although she never returned to school, she later received honorary doctorates from George Washington University, Brown University, and the University of Michigan for her contributions to science. Elion expressed doubt that she would have been so successful if she had children, since women were expected to stay home while the children were young.
While working at Burroughs Wellcome Company, Elion studied class of molecules called purines, which are the building blocks for our DNA. She and her colleagues found that modified purines can prevent DNA replication in a similar way to chemotherapy drugs. She worked to determine the best purine compounds for leukemia treatment. For example, by simply switching a sulphur atom with an oxygen atom, she discovered 6-mercaptopurine 6-MP , a less toxic drug that has cured 80 percent of children with leukemia.
Her career took off, and by she was appointed the head of the Department for Experimental Therapy. In addition to her leukemia treatment findings, Elion helped discover a purine variant that suppressed the immune system, making it a valuable drug for preventing organ rejection in transplant recipients. With her assistance, the company also developed drugs that interfere with bacterial and viral DNA, targeting malaria, meningitis, herpes, and other infectious organisms.
Using similar techniques, her colleagues developed a purine called azisothymadine or AZT , which interferes with replication of the HIV virus, making it the first drug for treating patients with AIDS.
For all of these contributions, she and her colleagues, George Hitchings and Sir James Black , received the Nobel prize in During Thomas's three-decade career at NASA, she connected scientists with the data they need to understand our planet.
Hanusia Higgins , University of Vermont. September 16, September 9, Gertrude B. Life Gertrude Elion was born in New York. Work Gertrude Elion's research revolutionized both the development of new pharmaceuticals and the field of medicine in general. Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page. Nobel Prizes Thirteen laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in , for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. See them all presented here.
Select the category or categories you would like to filter by Physics. Elion had an impressive career, during which she helped develop drugs to treat many major diseases, including malaria and AIDS.
She won a Nobel Prize for Medicine in Born to immigrant parents in New York City, Gertrude Elion spent her early youth in Manhattan, where her father had a dental practice. When her brother was born, the family moved to the Bronx. She attended high school and excelled with, in her words, an "insatiable thirst for knowledge. Motivated by the death of her grandfather, who died of cancer, Elion entered Hunter College, in New York City, at age 15 and graduated summa cum laude in chemistry at age She had difficulty finding employment after graduation, because many laboratories refused to hire women chemists.
She found part-time jobs as a lab assistant and went back to school at New York University. Elion worked as a substitute high school teacher for a few years while finishing work on her master's degree, which she earned in Though she never obtained a doctorate degree, she was later awarded an honorary Ph. The start of World War II created more opportunities for women in industry. Elion was able to obtain a few quality-control jobs in food and consumer-product companies before being hired at Burroughs-Wellcome now GlaxoSmithKline in , where she began a year partnership with Dr.
George H. Her thirst for knowledge impressed Dr. Hitchings, and he permitted her to take on more responsibility. Elion and Hitchings set out on an unorthodox course of creating medicines by studying the chemical composition of diseased cells.
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