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American chemist Gertrude Elion shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George Hitchings and James Black. Elion and Hitchings designed drugs by studying how diseased cells and germs differ from healthy ones, instead of relying on trial and error.

Gertrude B. Elion

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The story behind the card

Elion joined the drug company Burroughs Wellcome in New York State in 1944 as Hitchings's assistant. Their team built molecules that resemble the natural building blocks of DNA closely enough to jam the machinery of cancer cells, microbes or immune cells. The work produced 6-mercaptopurine for childhood leukaemia, azathioprine to stop the body rejecting transplanted organs, allopurinol for gout and acyclovir for herpes infections, and researchers trained in her methods later developed AZT, the first drug widely used against AIDS. Elion never finished a doctorate: after years of evening study she was told she would have to give up her job to continue full time, and she chose to keep working. Harvard and many other universities later gave her honorary degrees.

Türkçe oku
Amerikalı kimyager Gertrude Elion, 1988 Nobel Fizyoloji veya Tıp Ödülü'nü George Hitchings ve James Black ile paylaştı. Elion ile Hitchings ilaçları deneme yanılmayla aramak yerine, hastalıklı hücrelerin ve mikropların sağlıklı hücrelerden nasıl ayrıldığını inceleyerek tasarladı.

Elion 1944'te, New York eyaletindeki Burroughs Wellcome ilaç şirketinde Hitchings'in asistanı olarak çalışmaya başladı. Ekipleri, DNA'nın doğal yapı taşlarına çok benzeyen moleküller üretti; bu moleküller kanser hücrelerinin, mikropların ya da bağışıklık hücrelerinin işleyişini aksatıyordu. Bu çalışmalardan çocukluk çağı lösemisinde kullanılan 6-merkaptopürin, vücudun nakledilen organı reddetmesini önleyen azatioprin, gut tedavisinde kullanılan allopurinol ve uçuk gibi herpes enfeksiyonlarına karşı asiklovir çıktı. Onun yöntemleriyle yetişen araştırmacılar daha sonra AIDS'e karşı yaygın olarak kullanılan ilk ilaç olan AZT'yi geliştirdi. Elion doktorasını hiç tamamlamadı: Yıllarca akşamları okuduktan sonra, devam etmek için işini bırakıp tam zamanlı öğrenci olması gerektiği söylenince çalışmayı seçti. Harvard başta olmak üzere pek çok üniversite ona sonradan fahri doktora verdi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Gertrude B. Elion
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