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Donald Van Slyke

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Donald Van Slyke
Donald Van Slyke, during his time atBrookhaven National Laboratory
Born
Donald Dexter Van Slyke

(1883-03-29)March 29, 1883
Pike, New York
DiedMay 4, 1971(1971-05-04)(aged 88)
EducationUniversity of Michigan(BA 1905, PhD 1907)
Known forKinetics of urease
AwardsMany, includingNational Medal of Science
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsRockefeller Institute,Brookhaven National Laboratory
Doctoral advisorMoses Gomberg

Donald Dexter Van Slyke(March 29, 1883 – May 4, 1971), nicknamedVan,was aDutch Americanbiochemist.His achievements included the publication of 317 journal articles and 5 books,[1]as well as numerous awards, among them theNational Medal of Scienceand the firstAMA Scientific Achievement Award.[1]TheVan Slyke determination,a test of amino acids, is named after him.[2]

Early days and education

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Van Slyke was born inPike, New Yorkon March 29, 1883. He completed his BA in 1905 and PhD in 1907 both at theUniversity of Michigan,his father's alma mater.[1]His PhD studies were performed underMoses Gomberg.[1]

Post-doctoral study

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Van Slyke took up apost-doctoralposition at theRockefeller Institutein 1907, underPhoebus Levene.Levene also arranged for him to spend one year inBerlinunderHermann Emil Fischerin 1911.[1]His early work focused on determining theamino acidcomposition ofproteins.A major achievement during this time was the discovery of the amino acidhydroxylysine.[3]

Urease

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Work with G. E. Cullen on urease[4]led to a mechanism that yields a kinetic equation observationally indistinguishable from the Henri–Michaelis–Menten equation, but based on different assumptions. Whereas Henri,[5]and later Michaelis and Menten,[6]treated the binding of substrate to free enzyme to produce an enzyme–substrate complex as an equilibrium, Van Slyke and Cullen treated it as an irreversible reaction:

Enzyme + substrate → enzyme–substrate complex → enzyme + product

Effectively, therefore, they assumed a steady-state process.[7]Their equation for the rateat substrate concentration,

resembles the Henri–Michaelis–Menten equation but the constantin the denominator is interpreted differently.

Clinical chemistry

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In 1914, Van Slyke was appointed chief chemist of the newly founded Rockefeller Institute Hospital, where he played a key part in developing the field ofclinical chemistry.[8]His work focused especially on the measurement ofgasandelectrolytelevels intissues,[1]for which he is considered to be one of the founders of modern quantitative blood chemistry.[8]He is also considered by many to have first popularised the term "clinical chemistry" in his two-volume workQuantitative Clinical Chemistry,co-published withJohn P. Peters.The two-volume work was widely accepted in the medical world as the"Bible"of quantitative clinical chemistry.[1]During this period, he also served as managing editor of theJournal of Biological Chemistryfrom 1914 to 1925.

Brookhaven

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In 1948, approaching retirement age, Van Slyke took up a position as deputy director of biology and medicine of the newly-formedBrookhaven National Laboratory.He held this position briefly before moving back into research at Brookhaven, which he continued until his death in 1971.[1]

Awards and honors

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Honorary doctor of science degrees

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Honorary doctor of medicine degrees

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Ernst Crone & Donald Van Slyke (Amsterdam, 1962)

Medals and awards

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Academic Society Memberships

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References

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  1. ^abcdefghHastings, AB.; Van Slyke, DD. (1976). "Donald Dexter van Slyke".Biogr Mem Natl Acad Sci.48:309–60.PMID11615659.
  2. ^Donald D. van Slyke (1910)"Eine Methode zur quantitativen Bestimmung der aliphatischen Aminogruppen; einige Anwenungen derselben in der Chemi der Proteine, des Harns und der Enzyme"(A method for the quantitative determination of aliphatic amino groups: some applications of it in the chemistry of proteins, urine, and enzymes),Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft,43:3170-3181.
  3. ^Van Slyke, DD.; Hiller, A. (Jul 1921)."An Unidentified Base among the Hydrolytic Products of Gelatin".Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.7(7): 185–6.Bibcode:1921PNAS....7..185S.doi:10.1073/pnas.7.7.185.PMC1084845.PMID16586836.
  4. ^Van Slyke, DD; Cullen, GE (1914)."The mode of action of urease and of enzyme in general".Journal of Biological Chemistry.19(2): 141–180.doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)88300-4.
  5. ^ Henri, Victor(1903).Lois Générales de l'Action des Diastases.Paris: Hermann.
  6. ^Michaelis, L.; Menten, M.L. (1913). "Die Kinetik der Invertinwirkung".Biochem Z.49:333–369.
  7. ^Cornish-Bowden A (2012).Fundamentals of Enzyme Kinetics (4th edn.).Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 30–31.ISBN978-3-527-33074-4.
  8. ^abBruns, David E. (1998)."The Clinical Chemist".Clinical Chemistry.44(8): 1791–1794.doi:10.1093/clinchem/44.8.1791.
  9. ^"American Medical Association Award Recipients".American Medical Association.RetrievedFebruary 20,2011.
  10. ^"The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details Donald D. Van Slyke".U.S. National Science Foundation.RetrievedFebruary 19,2011.
  11. ^"Franklin Laureate Database - Elliott Cresson Medal Laureates".Franklin Institute.Archived fromthe originalon February 1, 2009.RetrievedFebruary 19,2011.
  12. ^"The Academy Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science".New York Academy of Medicine.Archived fromthe originalon February 19, 2011.RetrievedFebruary 19,2011.
  13. ^"Donald D. Van Slyke".www.nasonline.org.Retrieved2023-05-16.
  14. ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved2023-05-16.
  15. ^"Donald Dexter Van Slyke".American Academy of Arts & Sciences.2023-02-09.Retrieved2023-05-16.
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