Christian Boehmer Anfinsen was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on the structure of enzymes and the relationship between enzyme functions and the amino acid sequence. His experiments on the ‘ribonuclease’ enzyme led him to conclude that the tertiary structure of enzymes is determined by the sequential structure of amino acids. This groundbreaking discovery paved the way for understanding the causes of various diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, mad cow disease, cystic fibrosis, genetic emphysema, and many types of cancers. Anfinsen’s early work on protein labeling and synthesis also contributed to our understanding of the sequential synthesis of proteins from amino acids. In the mid-1950s, he focused on the structure and function of enzymes, proposing the ‘thermodynamic hypothesis’ related to the refolding of proteins to their native forms. Anfinsen’s contributions have had a profound impact on the field of biochemistry and have advanced our understanding of protein structure and function.
Quick Facts
- Died At Age: 79
- Family: Spouse/Ex-: Florence Bernice Kenenger, Libby Esther Shulman Ely; father: Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Sr; mother: Sophie Rasmussen Anfinsen; children: Carol, Christian, Daniel, David, Margot, Mark, Tobie
- Biochemists
- American Men
- Died on: May 14, 1995
- Place of death: Randallstown, Maryland
- U.S. State: Pennsylvania
- More Facts
- Education: Swarthmore College (BA, 1937), University of Pennsylvania (MS, 1939), Harvard Medical School (PhD, 1943)
- Awards: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1972)
Childhood & Early Life
Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr. was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania, on March 26, 1916. His father, Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Sr was a mechanical engineer and his mother was Sophie Rasmussen Anfinsen. He had a sister named Carol. Both his parents were Norwegian immigrants, and lived in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, for several years before moving to Philadelphia in the 1920s.
Anfinsen joined the ‘Swarthmore College’ after getting a scholarship to study chemistry and worked as a waiter at the dining hall. He earned his B.S. degree from the ‘Swarthmore College’ in 1937 and joined the ‘University of Pennsylvania’ to pursue graduate studies. He received his M.S. degree in organic chemistry from the ‘University of Pennsylvania’ in 1939 and worked at the university as an assistant instructor during this period. He received a fellowship from the ‘American Scandinavian Foundation’ in 1939 and moved to the ‘Carlsberg Laboratory’ in Copenhagen, Denmark to work on developing new methods for the analysis of complex protein structures, especially that of enzymes. He had to come back to the United States in 1940 due to the unfavorable conditions and horrors created in Denmark and Europe by the German occupation forces during the beginning of the Second World War. After coming back to the United States, he was offered a university fellowship to study for his doctorate at the ‘Department of Biological Chemistry’ at the ‘Harvard Medical School’. In 1943, he received his PhD in biochemistry from the ‘Harvard Medical School’.
Career
After receiving his PhD degree in 1943, Christian Boehmer Anfinsen taught biological chemistry at the ‘Harvard Medical School’ for the next seven years till 1950, first as an instructor and then as an assistant professor. From 1944 to 1946, he served in a civilian research post at the ‘Office of Scientific Research and Development’ in Harvard. From 1947 to 1948, he worked at the ‘Medical Nobel Institute’ in Stockholm after being sponsored as a Senior Fellow by the ‘American Cancer Society’. In 1950, he became the Director of the ‘Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Metabolism’ of the ‘National Heart Institute’, a part of the rapidly expanding ‘National Institutes of Health (NIH)’ located at Bethesda, Maryland and held the post till 1954. He moved to the ‘Carlsberg Laboratory’ in Copenhagen in 1954 with the help of a ‘Rockefeller Foundation’ fellowship and worked with Kaj Linderstrom-Lang for a year. From 1958 to 1959, he studied at the ‘Weizmann Institute of Science’ at Rehovot, Israel, with the help of a ‘Guggenheim Foundation’ fellowship. He served as a member of the board of governors for the ‘Weizmann Institute’ from 1962 onwards. He developed the ‘thermodynamic principle’ of protein folding in enzymes during the period 1954 to 1962. He became a visiting professor at the ‘Harvard Medical School’ in 1962 and was promptly offered the post of Chairman of the ‘Department of Biological Chemistry’ which he accepted and held till 1962. He moved to Bethesda as the Chief of the brand new ‘Laboratory of Chemical Biology’ at the ‘National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (NIAMD)’ currently known as the ‘National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ in 1963 where he remained till his retirement from NHI in 1981. During the period 1966-1968, he used affinity chromatography methods to identify the amino acid sequence in enzymes. In 1981, he was offered the post of Chief Scientist of a scientific research company named ‘Taglit’ formed by ‘Yeda’, the corporate arm of the ‘Weizmann Institute’. Unfortunately, Anfinsen was left jobless within two weeks of his arrival in Israel, when E. F. Hutton withdrew his funding from the project. He remained without a job for almost a year after which he received an offer for the post of ‘Professor of Biology and Assistant to the President for Industrial Liaison’ by the ‘John Hopkins University’ in 1982. From 1983 to 1995, Anfinsen carried out research related to ‘hyperthermophilic bacteria’ which were microorganisms that survive at extremely high temperatures. He served as an editor of the journal ‘Advances in Protein Chemistry’ and on the editorial committees of the ‘Journal of Biological Chemistry’ and ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’.
Major Works
Christian B. Anfinsen published his book ‘The Molecular Basis of Evolution’ in 1959.
Awards & Achievements
He was elected to the ‘National Academy of Sciences’ in 1963 and to the ‘Royal Danish Academy’ in 1964. He was made the President of the ‘American Society of Biological Chemists’ for the Academic year 1971 to 1972. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972. He was made a member of the ‘American Philosophical Society’ and the Vatican’s ‘Pontifical Academy of Sciences’. He received ‘Honorary Doctor of Science’ degrees from ‘Swarthmore College’ in 1965, ‘Georgetown University’ in 1967, and the ‘New York Medical College’ in 1969.
Personal Life & Legacy
He married Florence Bernice Kenenger in November 1941, and divorced her in 1978. He had two daughters Carol and Margot and a son Christian from this marriage. He married Libby Esther Shulman Ely in 1979 and became a stepfather to Libby’s four sons Mark, Tobie, Daniel, and David. Christian B. Anfinsen died of a heart attack in Randallstown, Maryland, on May 14, 1995, at the age of seventy-nine. The ‘Christian B. Anfinsen Award’ was established in 1996 to recognize scientists whose work is related to significant technological achievements in protein research. The ‘International Conference on Protein Folding and Design’ was held from April 23rd to 26th, 1996 in his honor.
Humanitarian Work
Christian Boehmer Anfinsen was involved in social and political issues like environmental degradation, nuclear disarmament, and human rights abuses committed against scientists.
Trivia
Christian Boehmer Anfinsen was an avid sailor and went on boat trips on the Chesapeake Bay from Boston to Miami.