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Washington University, the "Cori ester," and the synthesis of glycogen
In 1931 Carl Cori was offered the chairmanship of the pharmacology department at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The offer came as something of a surprise, since his only previous academic experience was as a one-year adjunct assistant professor at the University of Buffalo. As chairman, Cori had to run the department, equip a research laboratory, and teach medical students. Gerty Cori received a research position in the same department, with only a token salary. Years later, when she was ill, Gerty told Mildred Cohn: "I don't feel guilty about accepting my full salary [now] in spite of my frequent absence, because when Carl and I first came here, they paid me 10 percent of that they paid him."1 Experimenting on minced skeletal muscle from frogs, the Coris determined a new intermediate of glycogen breakdown, which they described as glucose-1-phosphate and which came to be known as the "Cori ester." Working with Sidney Colowick, their joint graduate student, the Coris established the compound's structure and discovered the enzyme that catalyzed its formation, which they named phosphorylase. In addition, the Coris demonstrated that the reversal of the phosphorylase-catalyzed reaction produced glycogen, the first time a biological macromolecule had been synthesized in a test tube. The Coris, in a collaboration with Arda Green that produced four seminal papers in 1942-1943, crystallized the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase from muscle and investigated its chemical properties. The Coris path-breaking research into the enzyme-catalyzed chemical reactions of carbohydrate metabolism resulted in their sharing the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947 with Bernardo Houssay of Argentina. The Nobel committee cited the Coris "for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen" and Houssay "for the discovery of the importance of the anterior pituitary hormone for the metabolism of sugar." Their son Tom, who was then eleven, remembers his parents "were in high spirits" when they received news of the Nobel award, but they also told a newspaper reporter that they were "pleased, overwhelmed, and too busy to celebrate."2 The years in St. Louis were productive and rewarding for the Coris. In 1946, Carl switched departments, becoming chairman of biological chemistry. They were able to collaborate on research, the only obstacles being the demands placed on Carl Cori because of his administrative duties as department chairman. They did seminal work in the mechanism of glycogen utilization. And they liked St. Louis, so much so that they turned down prestigious offers from Harvard, Berkeley, and the Rockefeller Institute. The Coris were supportive of the many scientists who flocked to their laboratory in St. Louis to study and work with them, including seven future Nobel Laureates. All were invited to take part in the daily brown-bag lunches in the library, where the conversation included current research interests but also might touch on a raft of non-scientific subjects. Most visitors were impressed by the depth of their interests and knowledge. They had many friends in St. Louis, a modern house and a garden in which they divided the labor; she grew the flowers, he raised the vegetables. The Coris read widely. Gerty was interested in history, biography, and modern novels, which her husband was knowledgeable in archaeology, poetry, and art. Carl was also a poet and fluent in German, French, Italian, and English.
1 "Carl and Gerty Cori: A Personal Recollection," in Creative Couples in the Sciences, eds. Helena Pycior, Nancy G. Slack, and Pnina G. Abir-Am (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996), p.77. Dr. Cohn told the same story to the author in a telephone interview, June 29, 2004.
2 Tom Cori, Living St. Louis, a production of KETC in St. Louis, Missouri, for the comment about "high spirits." The "pleased, overwhelmed, and too busy to celebrate" comment is a quotation from a contemporary newspaper, cited in ibid.
European backgrounds |
A truly collaborative relationship |
The "Cori cycle"
Washington University, the "Cori ester," and the synthesis of glycogen |
The final years
Landmark designation and acknowledgments
Copyright
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