Robert F. Furchgott:
Scientists
build on each other's work. Furchgott, while studying the effects of drugs on
blood vessels, discovered that blood vessels dilate when their surface cells
(the endothelium) signal the muscle cells to relax, using a molecule
he called "endothelium-derived relaxing factor" or EDRF. Murad noticed that
nitroglycerin (which dilates blood vessels) releases the gas nitric oxide (NO)
which relaxes the smooth muscles. Ignarro also analyzed EDRF and discovered
at the same time as Furchgott that EDRF was truly NO. This was the first evidence
that a gas may act as a signal molecule. NO has recently been found to be important
in fighting infections, regulating blood pressure, and activating brain functions.
For more information about their work, see www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1998/press.html
Louis J. Ignarro:
"Indeed,
I spent many long hours thinking about whether I should study chemistry or open
up my own drag racing shop out on Long Island. Well, chemistry it was." Louis
J. Ignarro, Les Prix Nobel, 1998.
A native New Yorker, Louis J. Ignarro was born to immigrant Italian parents
on May 31, 1941. He studied at Columbia University in New York City and received
a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin. He performed his postdoctoral
work at the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology at the National Heart, Lung,
and Blood Institute, under Elwood Titus. As a scientist at Geigy Pharmaceuticals,
Ignarro worked on anti-inflammatory drugs. He returned to academia at Tulane
University in New Orleans and worked on the question of NO as a signal molecule.
He moved to the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine where
he continued to work on the effects of NO. For more information about Ignarro,
see www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1998/ignarro-autobio.html.
Ferid Murad:
"With
this background I knew that I wanted considerable education so I wouldn't have
to work as hard as my parents. Also, I knew at the age of 12 that I was going
to become a doctor." Ferid Murad, Les Prix Nobel, 1998
Ferid Murad was born on September 14, 1936 in Whiting, Indiana, the son of restaurant
owners. He attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, and did his M.D.-Ph.D.
degree work at Western Reserve University School of Medicine under Earl Sutherland
on cyclic AMP. He was a clinical associate at the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute under Martha Vaughn, where he pursued his interest in hormone
regulation. At the University of Virginia, he continued this work; then at Stanford
University he began his work on NO. He joined the Abbot Laboratories to work
on drug discovery and then went to the University of Texas-Houston to build
a division of clinical pharmacology. He concluded that he ended up working harder
than his parents, but with more enjoyment. For more information on Murad, see
www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1998/murad-autobio.html.