Paul Naim Berg is an American biochemist, professor at Stanford University, an honorary member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of the Nobel Prize for achievements in chemistry. It is known that Paul Berg created the first transgenic organism. The scientist was awarded the National Science Medal for his contribution to the development of science.
Biography
Paul Berg was born on June 30, 1926 in Brooklyn, USA to a Jewish family. His father was a textile worker, his mother was a housewife. Paul was inspired to become a scientist by reading The Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruy and Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis at an early age.
Schools and universities
He was educated at the Abraham Lincoln Institute, graduating in 1943, rushing through several grades of elementary school.
At the age of 17, Paul Berg decides to take part in the military, so he enlists in the Navy, intending to become a pilot. While waiting for an answer, he enters Pennsylvania State University for biochemistry.faculty, which he graduated in 1948.
Until 1946, Paul served on a submarine, and then returned to study again.
In 1952, he received his Ph. D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. There, Berg wrote a dissertation in which he studied the conversion of formic acid, formaldehyde and methanol to the fully reduced alpha-amino acid methionine using vitamins B9 (folic acid) and B12.
Since 1959, Paul has been a professor of biochemistry at Stanford University. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Discoveries and scientific activity
During his years of life, Paul Berg made a significant contribution to the development of science. While studying in graduate school, he was engaged in the study of how food is converted into cellular material when these processes are influenced by isotopic carbon atoms or heavy nitrogen atoms. Subsequently, Paul Berg described the results in his doctoral dissertation.
First, the scientist was engaged in research in the field of enzymology, where he studied the structure, functioning and activity of enzymes. So he met talented scientists who specialized in this area - Arthur Kornberg and Herman Kalkar. Working with Herman at the Institute of Cytophysiology in Copenhagen, hoping to investigate glucose metabolism, they discover a new enzyme that makes it clear that biological systems can transfer energy in several ways.
In 1953-1954, working in Kornberg's laboratory inWashington, Paul Berg worked on metabolism, which releases energy. Later, he found that amino acids, turning into a special form, can attach to transfer RNA, which then transfers them to ribosomes. For this discovery, the scientist was awarded a prize.
In 1959, Paul moved to Stanford University with Arthur Kornberg, where he researched the synthesis of proteins from amino acids. He managed to understand that each amino acid has its own transfer RNA, which means that the experience took on more complex turns. It took many years.
In 1967, scientists concluded that if you make genetic changes in t-RNA, then the genetic code in the ribosomes will be read incorrectly. Through research, Berg was able to identify RNA polymerase in E. coli.
In 1968-1970, the scientist was researching the virus-40, which causes tumors in monkeys.
In the field of biochemistry in 1972, Paul Berg made another discovery. He discovered a molecular hybrid by combining the DNA of two viruses with the help of a chemical reaction. Taking the virus-40 and bacteriophage lambda, he managed to break their genetic material in special places under the influence of biologically active substances. Thus, the scientist received recombinant DNA.
After time, genes began to receive automatically. However, Berg and other scientists were worried that artificially produced viruses could promote the emergence of new cancer-causing bacteria, so Paul stopped the experiments and such studies were banned.
It was soonit was found that such experiments are not dangerous and there is no need to follow strict rules. Such research led to the flourishing of genetic engineering, where various pharmaceuticals (for example, growth hormones) were obtained.
In 1985, Berg co-founded the Interdisciplinary Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine, where he later became director.
Later, he and his colleagues set up an institute for biological research. Here they were engaged in research on the DNA molecule, obtaining interleukins synthesized by leukocytes, and cloning. Similar experiments are still being carried out, and the center created by Paul Berg is one of the largest at the moment.
Private life
In 1947, Paul Berg married Mildred Levy, whom he had first met in college. The couple had a son, John.
Awards and prizes
Paul Berg is one of those brilliant scientists who won the Nobel Prize. He shared this award with W alter Gilbert and Frederick Singer in 1980 for his achievements in chemistry, where colleagues conducted fundamental research on nucleic acids, especially hybrid DNA.
In 1959, Berg received the Eli Lilly Prize in Biological Chemistry for his research on RNA.
In 1985, the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, awarded him the National Medal of Science.
Retirement
Paul Berg stopped exercisingscientific activity in 2000. He is also currently a professor at Stanford University. He enjoys writing books about genetics.
