MEMBER NEWS
SCI NEWS Obituaries
SCI is sorry to announce that the following members have recently passed away.
Carl Martin Previous SCI Council Committee Environment, Health & Safety Committee London Group
Dr Clive Edgar Harland Colloid & Surface Chemistry Group Separation Science & Technology Group Yorkshire & Humber Group
SCI CALENDAR
22 November Turning data into decisions in Agrifood SCI’s Agrisciences Group in collaboration with KTN. SCI Headquarters, London
28 November 2017 | 17:45 Chemistry and Global Challenges SCI’s London Group with UCL’s Chemical & Physical Society UCL, London
28 November | 18:00 Environment group medal and lecture – Is it possible to measure Soil Quality? SCI’s Environment Group SCI Headquarters, London
29 November | 9:30 | FREE You’re hired 2017 SCI’s Fine Chemicals Group, Young Chemists’ Panel, Yorkshire and the Humber Group & Early Careers Committee. University of Huddersfield
1 December | 11:00 PHGSW Christmas Lecture and Lunch SCI’s Horticulture Group with Prof- essional Horticulture Group. South West Wiltshire College Lackham, Chippenham
6 December | 18:00 The History, Chemical Science and Engineering of Gin: a pHure Liquors perspective SCI’s London Group Marks & Clerk, London
12 December | 9:30 McBain Medal 2017: Watching Colloids Work SCI’s Colloid & Surface Chemistry Group and RSC’s Colloid & Interface Science Group
SCI Headquarters, London
Ulf Svante von Euler (1905-1983), Swedish physiologist, pharma- cologist and Nobel laureate
In the first of a new series of London Group lectures – held on 13 September 2017 at Marks and Clerk in Long Acre – Professor Rod Flower FRS spoke about The Prostaglandins: What are they, where are they found and why are they important? He began his lecture by introducing the history of prostaglandins. In the 1930s, Ulf Von Euler discovered
the compounds, having isolated them from seminal plasma. He demonstrated that prostaglandins could cause contraction in strips of uterus and small intestines, as well as provoke hypotension in animals. Sune Bergström studied the vesicular tissues that had been used by Von Euler and purified the prostaglandin extracts, enabling him to identify and characterise prostaglandin E and prostaglandin F. Bengt Samuelsson found that prosta- glandins are biologically synthesised from essential fatty acids via the intermediate: arachidonic acid, which takes either the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway or the lipoxygenase pathway. It is the former pathway that produces prostaglandins, prostacyclins and thromboxane. Different functional groups also
define different types of prostaglandins and prostacyclins (eg PGE2, PGH2, PGI2). PGE2 can cause uterus and gastrointestinal smooth muscle contraction, as well as increase platelet response. PGI2 is a vasodilator and inhibits platelet aggregation. Prostaglandins have a wide range of
functions in the body. In the stomach, PGs suppress acid production and provide gastric cyto-protection. In joints, they regulate pain transmission and increase the production of autonomic neurotransmitters. A further advance in the study of
prostaglandins was made with John Vane’s discovery in 1971. Vane found that prostaglandin production is inhibited by salicylic acid – widely known as aspirin – and indomethacin in minced guinea pig lung tissues. The therapeutic effects of aspirin are directly related to its suppression of prostaglandins. Aspirin counters the effects of
prostaglandins by blocking their production by cyclooxygenase, the enzyme required for prostaglandin synthesis. Therefore, aspirin is able to act as an analgesic, antipyretic and platelet aggregation inhibitor. The study of prostaglandins and the pharmacology of aspirin-like drugs emphasises the medical importance of prostaglandins. Its legacy is apparent in the creation of drugs such as misoprostol, iloprost, and gemeprost – medications that are analogues of prostacylins and prostaglandins. The importance of prostaglandins
was realised globally when Sune Bergström, Bengt Samuelsson and John Vane were jointly awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ‘for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances’.
SCI NEWS A Nobel quest
50 09 | 2017
US NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
