Gerald D. Aurbach
Gerald Donald Aurbach ( born March 24, 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio; † November 4, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American physiologist and endocrinologist. He is known for his work on the identification and function of the parathyroid hormone.
Life
Aurbach grew up in Washington, D.C. on. After his military service in the United States Army Air Forces, he began his studies at the University of Virginia and earned a bachelor's degree in 1950 and an MD in 1954 as graduation from medical school. He then worked at the New England Medical Center and the Boston City Hospital. As a research assistant went Aurbach 1956 Ted Astwood to the Tufts Medical School, where he was able to continue his work on parathyroid hormone, which he had begun during his studies.
In 1959 Aurbach as an assistant to William Jakoby at the National Institutes of Health ( NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, and received in 1961 a position in the Department of Metabolic Diseases at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (now the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases ). In 1973 he took over the management of this department.
1960 married Hannah Aurbach, the couple had two daughters. Aurbach died on November 4, 1991 as a result of head injuries he has suffered a few days earlier by a stone's throw from a passing car.
Work
1959 published Aurbach the successful isolation of parathyroid hormone from the parathyroid glands by phenol. Aurbach and co-workers get the first time the isolation of parathyroid hormone in quantitative amounts in order to analyze the proteohormone can, and synthesis of a biologically active form of the hormone. The working group developed a radioimmunoassay to determine levels of parathyroid hormone in blood and other body fluids, and to be able to diagnose hyperparathyroidism. The radioactive labeling of parathyroid hormone as tracer allowed the analysis of the pharmacokinetics of the hormone. Building on the work of Earl Sutherland, showed Aurbach and Lew Chase that parathyroid hormone at the cellular level by increasing the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP ) acts. The determination of cAMP in urine was light on the parathyroid hormone status of the patient. Aurbach and Chase have demonstrated that it occurs in patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism due to hormone resistance to no increase in cAMP. Together with Allen mirror Aurbach was able to identify the genetic disorder that is the underlying pseudohypoparathyroidism.
Due to the large number of patients with disorders of parathyroid function that has been assigned to the NIH Clinical Center, the center has developed into a leading institution in the field of parathyroid surgery.
Together with Steve Marx identified Aurbach several inherited forms of hyperparathyroidism: MEN 1, familial benign hypercalcemia and hyperparathyroidism - jaw hypokalzurische tumor syndrome.
Awards (selection)
The Endocrine Society has awarded since 1993, the Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture. Also, in the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, there is a Gerald D. Aurbach Memorial Lecture. At the University of Virginia, there is a Gerald D. Aurbach Professorship in Endocrinology since 1998; current post holder (as of 2013) is Margaret A. Shupnik, Theresa A. Guise predecessor was. 2001 was built at the University of Virginia, the Gerald D. Aurbach Medical Research Building.