Jerker Porath

Jerker Porath ( born October 23, 1921 in Sala ) is a Swedish biochemist and inventor, among other methods of ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography and gel permeation chromatography.

Biography

Porath studied at Uppsala universitet and researched initially in organic chemistry under Arne Fredga, where he earned his degree as licentiate. After a fellowship in Heidelberg, he joined the research group of Arne Tiselius. Tiselius recommended Porath research stays at Choh Hao Li and his Hormone Research Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, where Porath 1951 stayed until 1952. He then developed in Uppsala methods of zone electrophoresis and ion exchange chromatography for the purification of hormones. He received his doctorate in 1957 in Uppsala with the dissertation zone electrophoresis in columns and adsorption chromatography on ionic cellulose derivatives as methods for peptide and protein fractionations: application to the study of posterior pituitary hormones.

His probably most famous invention is developed in collaboration with Per Flodin gel permeation chromatography, and the stationary phases Sephadex and Sepharose. In 1957, Porath discovered the molecular sieving effect of Sephadex, which can be separated in a gel permeation chromatography molecules by their size or by comparison with the chromatographic behavior of a running Komigrationsstandards their molecular weight can be derived. Further Sephadex (crosslinked dextran) is used for immunoprecipitation and the stationary phase in affinity chromatography.

From 1969 to 1988 he was professor at the University of Uppsala. In 1971 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and subsequently the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.