Charles Heidelberger

Charles Heidelberger ( born December 23, 1920 in New York City; † 18 January 1983 in Pasadena, California ) was an American chemist and cancer researcher. He worked from 1948 to 1976 as a professor of oncology at the University of Wisconsin -Madison, and from 1976 until his death as professor of biochemistry and pathology at the University of Southern California. His research focused particularly on the mechanisms of chemical- induced carcinogenesis and the development of drugs to treat cancer. Among his achievements, for which he received several academic awards and was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1978, included the development of the compound 5 -fluorouracil, which is used to the present day in the chemotherapy of tumors.

Life

Charles Heidelberger was born in 1920 in New York City, the son of Immunologists Michael Heidelberger and completed in 1937 to study chemistry at Harvard University, where he in 1942 and 1944, a self-service an MS degree in 1946 and became Louis Frederick Fieser in Organic chemistry doctorate. He then joined as a post- doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked in the research group of the later Nobel Prize winner Melvin Calvin particularly the synthesis, metabolism and the use of compounds with radioactively labeled carbon atoms.

In 1948 he became an assistant professor of oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research of the University of Wisconsin- Madison, where he was promoted to associate professor in 1952 and professor in 1958 and in 1960 received a lifetime professorship by the American Cancer Society. In addition, he was deputy director in 1973 for basic research at the Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center at the Medical Faculty of the University. In 1976 he moved to the University of Southern California, where he became Professor of Biochemistry and Pathology and the position of director for basic research at the USC Comprehensive Cancer Center, he held both until his death.

Charles Heidelberger was from 1943 married in the first and in 1975 his second wife and one son and two daughters. His hobbies included music, especially the violin and trumpet playing, as well as sailing and photography. During his studies, he was a member of the Harvard Symphony Orchestra, later in his life, he played in several jazz bands. He died in 1983 at the age of 62 years in Pasadena due to a carcinoma of the paranasal sinus.

Scientific work

Charles Heidelberger, who published more than 350 scientific publications, devoted himself throughout his career various aspects of basic research on the causes of carcinogenesis. So he examined the carcinogenic effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the mechanisms of cancer induction by chemicals in cells, particularly the effects of carcinogens on nucleic acids. He also established various relevant for cancer research cell culture techniques and the mouse cell line 10T1 / 2

In the field of clinical oncology his interest in the development of drugs to treat cancer. He synthesized, among others, the substance 5 -fluorouracil, which is used to the present day for chemotherapy of certain tumors, and examined the biochemical basis of their effect. For this reason, he pioneered the introduction of anti- metabolites for use as cytostatic agents. In later years he was also involved in the development of methods for predicting the individual response of patients to chemotherapy.

From 1959 to 1962, from 1965 to 1967 and from 1975 to 1978 he was a member of the board of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Awards

Charles Heidelberger was added in 1978 to the National Academy of Sciences and appointed three years later at the University of Southern California Distinguished Professor. He and his father are among the few father-son pairs who belonged to lifetime together of the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition, he received in 1958 the long - Teplitz Award from the Ann Langer Cancer Research Foundation, 1969 Lucy Wortham James Award from the James Ewing Society, in 1970 Clowes Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research, in 1974 the American Cancer Society National Award, 1976 Lila Gruber Award from the American Academy of Dermatology, 1978 Papanicolaou Award of the Papanicolaou Institute, and in 1982 the C. Chester Stock Award from the Memorial Sloan -Kettering Cancer Center and the first ever and the 100,000 U.S. dollars Athayde International Cancer Prize of the International Union against Cancer.

In memory of Charles Heidelberger the Charles Heidelberger Symposium on Cancer Research, one every one to two -yearly international symposium on cancer research, and awarded by the International Society of Gastroenterological Carcinogenesis Charles Heidelberger Award bear his name.

Works (selection)

• Isotopic Carbon: Techniques in its Measurement and Chemical Manipulation. New York 1949, London 1960 ( co-author )
• Charles Heidelberger et al. Fluorinated Pyrimidines, A New Class of Tumour - Inhibitory Compounds. In: Nature. Volume 179, Issue 4561 of 30 March 1957 pp. 663-666
• Fluorinated Pyrimidines and Their Nucleosides. New York, Chichester, Brisbane and 1983 ( co-author )