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Feature Story: American biochemist, pharmacologist and Nobel Prize recipient Gertrude Elion
Gertrude Elion:
The Molecular Mechanic
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Rebecca J. Anderson, PhD
In 1990, some of my colleagues presented their experimental drug results in a poster session at a national scientific meeting. It was the height of the AIDS epidemic, and many drug companies, including my employer, were frantically searching for effective treatments. We thought we had made a breakthrough, and curious scientists from competing companies crowded around the poster, hoping to glean new insights.
About halfway through the session, the crowd politely parted to allow a short elderly woman to view the posted data. She asked a few insightful questions and complimented the authors on the quality of their work. Thirty years later, those scientists still remembered every word of that conversation and cherished the few moments they had spent, up close and personal, with Gertrude Elion.
Gertrude Elion was never a household name like Salk and Pasteur, but the scientists at that conference revered her. Two years earlier, she had received the Nobel Prize, a rare achievement for an industrial scientist, rarer for someone without a doctorate, and rarer still for a woman. The Nobel Committee said that her discoveries had saved the lives of millions of patients and eased the suffering of countless others.
A Stellar Student
On a bleak January night in the midst of the 1918 influenza pandemic, the water pipes froze and burst in the Elions’ Manhattan apartment (1, 2). Mrs. Elion, who had emigrated from Russia (now Poland) was in the hospital giving birth to their first child, Gertrude. Dr. Elion, an immigrant from Lithuania, had graduated from New York University Dental School four years earlier and maintained a dental office adjacent to their apartment. After the birth of Gertrude’s little brother Herbert in 1924, the family moved to the Bronx (1, 2).
Gertrude, whom everyone called Trudy, learned to read at an early age. She had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, enjoyed all of her classes, and skipped several grades (1, 2). At the age of 15, she entered Hunter College, then the women’s campus of the City College of New York. Her father, like many others, had invested heavily in the stock market, which crashed in 1929, and was bankrupted (1, 2). “Had it not been that Hunter College was a free college, I suspect I might never have received a higher education” (2).
Trudy was particularly close to her grandfather, a learned scholar who had been a rabbi in Russia and was a watchmaker in New York City (1). Because she liked all of her subjects, she didn’t particularly focus on science, until her grandfather died from stomach cancer in the summer after her high school graduation (3, 4).
She said his death was a turning point in her life. “I was highly motivated to do something that might eventually lead to a cure for this terrible disease” (2). At Hunter College, she majored in chemistry, and in 1937, at age 19, she graduated summa cum laude (1, 3-5).
Income from her father’s dental practice kept the family afloat, but in the midst of the Depression, they could not afford the tuition for Trudy to attend graduate school. She applied for financial assistance at 15 universities, but none was offered (2, 3).
Knocking on Doors
As a second-best alternative, she sought a job in research, and, for the first time in her life, she faced a stark reality. The few lab positions that existed during
the Depression were not available to women (2). “I hadn’t been aware that there were doors closed to me until I started knocking on them” (1). Everyone said she was qualified, but they had never had a woman in the laboratory and thought she would be a “distracting influence.” “I almost fell apart” (1).
After trying unsuccessfully for 3-4 months to land a research job, and needing to make a living, she started taking classes at a secretarial school (1). Six weeks later, she was offered a job teaching biochemistry at the New York Hospital School of Nursing (2, 4). She dropped out of secretarial school. “Six weeks was about as much as I could take” (4). The nursing school was on the trimester system, and her job was for just one three-month term.
When the term ended, she needed to find a new job. At a party, she met a chemist who operated a oneman lab located within a factory (2, 4). He agreed to give her a job but explained that he could not pay her. She took the opportunity and soon discovered that he was a very good organic chemist. Over the next year and a half, she gained valuable experience. She also apparently impressed him. By the end of her time in that lab, she was making $20 a week, $416 in today’s currency (2, 4).
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She saved enough money, along with help from her parents, to enroll in graduate school at New York University in the fall of 1939. In sharp contrast to Hunter College, she was the only woman in her chemistry classes (2, 4).
Along with her graduate coursework, Elion took an education class, which qualified her to work as a substitute teacher in New York City. She taught high school chemistry, physics, and general science during the day. At night and on weekends, she conducted the research for her master’s thesis (1, 2, 4). In 1941, she received her degree in organic chemistry. There still were no research jobs.
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, many men left for military service, and employers were more willing to hire women as industrial chemists (2, 5). In 1942, Elion quit her substitute teaching job to take a position as an analytical chemist with the A&P Grocery Store chain (1, 2, 4).
Although she acquired valuable instrumentation experience, the work was repetitive and unchallenging (1, 4, 5). After a year and a half of measuring the acidity of pickles, the color of mayonnaise, and the concentration of sugar in preserves, “I was no longer learning anything” (2). She sought a more challenging research position.
Through an employment agency, she obtained a medical research position at Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ (1-4). Her work involved learning about sulfonamides (the first broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs), and that reinforced her interest in chemotherapy. But after 6 months, the company closed its New Brunswick lab, and her job was terminated (1, 2).
Her father had samples of pain medication in his dental office, and some of them were made by Burroughs Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline). The address on the label was Tuckahoe, NY, which was not far from their home in the Bronx. He suggested she look there for a job (2, 4).
Fortunately, when she called to ask for an interview, they had some openings. She arrived on a Saturday morning and was interviewed by Dr. George Hitchings, director of Burroughs Wellcome Laboratories (4).
Hitchings, unlike many managers at the time, gave equal opportunity to both men and women. His other assistant was a woman. Elion’s resumé, which listed her master’s degree and some research experience, apparently met his criteria. A week later, he offered her a job. “I was very fortunate that he happened to be there that Saturday morning, because they worked on alternate Saturdays, and it would have been someone else on the next Saturday” (4).
A Productive Partnership
Elion began as Hitchings’ research assistant on June 15, 1944, with an annual salary of $2600 ($43,000 in today’s currency). That launched one of the most productive collaborations in science (1, 4, 5).
Seeing that she learned rapidly, Hitchings gave her increasingly challenging assignments and responsibility. Her background had been solely in organic chemistry, but she soon immersed herself in microbiology and the biological activity of the compounds she was synthesizing (2).
In parallel, she enrolled at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now Polytechnic Institute of New York University), where she took evening classes for a doctorate in chemistry (2-4). Three nights a week,
she made the grueling shuttle between her home in the Bronx, her work in Tuckahoe, and her classes at Brooklyn Polytechnic. She estimated that she would complete her PhD in about 10 years (4). But after 2 years, the Dean said the faculty expected doctoral candidates to attend school fulltime. She would have to give up her job (4).
After spending years in a sort of limbo, she had finally found the perfect job, under Hitchings at Burroughs Wellcome, and did not want to give it up. She discussed her dilemma with Hitchings, who said, “You don’t need to get a doctorate. You can do it all without” (4). Later, she admitted that she would not give that advice to young people, “but at the time, it was the only choice that made sense to me” (4).
Her research under Hitchings was so interesting that she figured she worked harder in his lab than she might have worked on her doctoral studies (4). She had no distractions and could work as long as she
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wanted, often 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. And then, she took work home. “It was my life…and in a few years, I realized that I’d made the right decision” (4).
In the 1940s, most new drugs were discovered by evaluating the effects of natural products and other known compounds, sometimes chosen at random (6). But to find drugs to treat cancer and bacterial infections, Hitchings thought it made more sense to manipulate the biochemistry of cancer cells and bacteria (6). He focused on nucleic acids, which are essential for cell growth (2, 7). The goal was to design compounds that specifically interfered with nucleic acid metabolism, and, in doing so, stopped cellular proliferation (6).
Pushing the Envelope
In the 1940s, scientists knew that DNA was composed of four nucleic acids: two purines (adenine and guanine) and two pyrimidines (cytosine and thymine) (5-7). But the biochemical pathways that utilized those nucleic acids to make DNA had not been mapped, and the
helical structure of DNA had not yet been proposed (5, 7). In addition, the techniques for investigating purines and pyrimidines were very limited. There was no paper or ion-exchange chromatography. Radioactivity was measured with a Geiger counter, rather than liquid scintillation counters (5).
Hitchings assigned Elion to investigate the purines (adenine and guanine) and find ways to prevent them from entering the pathway that leads to building a strand of DNA (3, 7). Elion had never heard of purines or pyrimidines, but the idea of treating diseases by interfering with DNA synthesis (and thus stopping cell proliferation) was a very exciting challenge (5).
Elion not only synthesized purine analogs but also delved into the biological effects of those compounds. Over time, her broad knowledge encompassed pharmacology, biochemistry, immunology, and virology (1, 2, 5).
In 1948, she made 2,6-diaminopurine (2,6-DAP), which inhibited the growth of bacteria. She also found that adenine specifically reversed the 2,6-DAPinduced inhibition, but the other natural purines did not. This suggested that adenine and 2,6-DAP were substrates for the same enzyme. In 1955, Arthur Kornberg (a future Nobel Laurate) identified this enzyme: adenylate pyrophosphorylase (7).
Elion and Hitchings also found that 2,6-DAP inhibited mouse tumors, mouse leukemia, and tumor cells in tissue culture (7). Clinical work at Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research showed that 2,6-DAP induced remissions in two adult patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia (1, 5, 7). Unfortunately, the drug also caused serious side effects, including nausea, vomiting, and bone marrow depression. So, development of 2,6-DAP was terminated. Back in the lab, Elion continued designing and synthesizing purine derivatives, looking for a compound that was effective but less toxic than 2,6-DAP (4, 5, 7). Elion made over 100 purine analogs (3, 4, 7). In 1951, tests conducted in collaboration with SloanKettering showed that 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and 6-thioguanine were active against a wide variety of rodent tumors and leukemias (5, 7).
At that time, children with acute leukemia were treated with methotrexate and steroids, and their life expectancy was 3-4 months. Only 30% lived longer than a year (7). In the initial clinical trials at SloanKettering Memorial Hospital, 6-MP produced complete remissions of childhood acute leukemia (5, 7). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 6-MP in 1953. Unfortunately, relapses frequently occurred.
Later, clinical trials showed that combining 6-MP with other antileukemic drugs prolonged the average survival time, and refinement of those chemotherapy regimens now reliably induces remission of acute childhood leukemia. Follow-up maintenance therapy with 6-MP and methotrexate now cures 90% of those children (3, 8).
In 1952, little was known about the mechanism of action of 6-MP or how it inhibited cancer cell proliferation (5).
Elion realized that making and testing a series of compounds was not enough. To guide her chemical synthesis and truly cure diseases, “We have to understand the function of these drugs inside the body” (1). To get at the mechanism of action, she tracked the metabolic fate of 6-MP using radioactive tracers (1, 5). She was, in essence, using 6-MP and its analogs as tools to deduce the existence of certain enzymes, enzymes that had not yet been isolated and characterized.
Later, by the mid-1950s, researchers discovered those enzymes, mapped the synthetic pathways of purine synthesis, and defined the complex biochemical reactions involved with 6-MP metabolism (4, 5). Once Elion knew the enzymes and synthetic pathways, she leveraged that information to find compounds that were even more effective than 6-MP (5).
Among other things, these studies revealed that 6-MP was extensively metabolized and very little was excreted unchanged (4, 7). To create a longerlasting compound, she made a number of chemical substitutions to the 6-MP molecule. The resulting compounds were prodrugs that would convert to 6-MP only at the internal target site. She hoped an
appropriately designed prodrug would be more selective for leukemia cells and less harmful to normal cells (4). The most impressive compound to emerge from this approach was azathioprine (7).
Azathioprine (a prodrug) is converted to 6-MP in the blood. In laboratory tests, azathioprine was effective against mouse tumors and was less toxic than 6-MP. Unfortunately, in patients with leukemia, azathioprine’s toxicity was similar to 6-MP, making it no better than 6-MP as an anticancer drug (5, 7).
Keeping an Open Mind
In 1958, Robert Schwartz and William Damechik at Tufts University found that 6-MP suppressed the immune response in rabbits (1, 5, 7). This prompted Elion to set up a laboratory screening test to see if the 6-MP derivatives she was making would also affect immunity. Her group found that, although azathioprine and 6-MP had similar efficacy in the leukemia tests, azathioprine was better than 6-MP in their immune screening test (4).
Few organ transplants were performed before the early 1960s, because the donor organs were quickly rejected by the recipient’s immune system (6). Taking note of the Tufts results, Roy Calne, a British surgeon, showed that 6-MP also prevented kidney transplant rejection in his dog experiments (1, 4, 7). He contacted Elion and asked if she could provide him with analogs of 6-MP that he might investigate. Based on her immune screening data, she suggested that azathioprine might have some advantages. Calne found that azathioprine was, indeed, superior to 6-MP in his dog experiments (7).
In 1962, the combination of azathioprine and the steroid, prednisone, permitted the first successful human kidney transplant from an unrelated donor (1, 7). For many years, these drugs were the standard regimen for kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplants (1, 6).
In 1978, Calne introduced cyclosporin, which provides a longer survival time of transplanted organs than azathioprine. But azathioprine alone or in combination is still used to treat inflammatory bowel disease and an array of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, atopic dermatitis, and myasthenia gravis, among others (5, 7).
Elion didn’t set out to find an immunosuppressant, but “by keeping an open mind and being responsive,” she said, “this is what can happen” (4). The success of azathioprine launched her team’s work in immunology. They synthesized analogs of 6-MP and azathioprine, specifically aiming to stop bacterial infections (6). Their successes included pyrimethamine (Daraprim) for malaria and parasitic diseases and trimethoprim (a component, along with sulfamethoxazole, of Bactrim) for treating meningitis, septicemia, and urinary and respiratory tract infections (6).
Allopurinol
The enzyme responsible for 6-MP’s rapid and extensive metabolism was found to be xanthine oxidase. Elion’s next initiative was to prolong the activity of 6-MP by inhibiting xanthine oxidase (7). Of the compounds her group synthesized, 4-hydroxypurazolo (3-4-d) "The goal was to pyrimidine (allopurinol) stood design compounds out as a potent xanthine oxidase inhibitor. As predicted, that specifically allopurinol enhanced the interfered with nucleic efficacy and lengthened the halflife of 6-MP in their lab tests (7). acid metabolism, and, Clinical studies in collaboration in so doing, stopped with Wayne Rundles at Duke University showed that cellular proliferation." allopurinol also potentiated the efficacy of 6-MP in patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia. But unfortunately, allopurinol also increased 6-MP’s toxicity (5, 7). So, the combination of 6-MP and allopurinol had no advantage over 6-MP alone (7). Further research showed that allopurinol was useful in other disorders. Cells utilize xanthine oxidase to produce uric acid, and allopurinol significantly decreases uric acid in both the blood and the urinary tract. This led to a novel approach for treating gout and other forms of hyperuricemia (1, 5, 7). The FDA approved allopurinol for gout in 1966. Elion’s mechanism of action studies also revealed differences in the metabolism of allopurinol in mammalian versus protozoan species (1, 7). Allopurinol
is converted to a toxic compound in protozoa but not in mammals (1). In the 1970s, studies by other researchers showed that this differential effect made allopurinol an effective and selective treatment for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease at doses that cause no harm to the patient (1, 7).
Tackling Viruses
As early as 1948, Elion and Hitchings had been intrigued by the strong antiviral activity of 2,6-DAP, but they dropped the compound because of its toxicity in the cancer clinical trials. For the next 20 years, they focused on more promising drugs such as 6-MP, azathioprine, and allopurinol (7).
Then, in 1968, other researchers reported that adenine arabinoside (ara-A) inhibited the replication of both DNA and RNA viruses (1). Unfortunately, ara-A’s clinical usefulness was limited due to its rapid metabolism. Elion thought that the arabinoside analog of 2,6-DAP would have a longer half-life (1, 7).
Elion’s team synthesized the compound, and she sent it to John Bauer at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in the UK to assess its antiviral activity. Bauer found that 2,6-DAP-arabinoside was highly active against both herpes simplex and vaccinia viruses. Interestingly, it was less toxic to mammalian cells than ara-A (7).
Because herpes infections can be fatal in immunosuppressed patients (such as those with cancer and transplanted organs), Elion explored a series of 2,6-DAP-arabinosides and related derivatives for their possible use in combatting herpes infections (1).
In 1970, Elion, Hitchings, and many other Wellcome employees moved from their facilities in Tuckahoe, NY, to Research Triangle Park, NC. At the same time, Howard Schaeffer joined the company as head of the organic chemistry department (3, 7). Schaeffer had been making a series of adenine analogs with acyclic side chains. His results suggested that those compounds might have antimetabolite properties, and early results showed that they also had antiviral activity. So, Elion and Schaeffer joined forces and launched a full-blown antiviral research program (7).
Schaeffer and Lilia Beauchamp synthesized the acyclic purine arabinosides, and Bauer and Peter Collins in the UK did the antiviral testing. Elion’s group established the structure-activity relationships for optimal antiviral activity. They also evaluated the compounds’ metabolism in animal models and honed the methods for synthesizing the compounds (7).
The acyclic analog of 2,6-DAP was highly active against the herpes simplex virus, but unexpectedly, the acyclic analog of guanine, acycloguanosine (acyclovir), was more than 100 times more active (1). In addition, acyclovir was quite selective (7). It was highly active against herpes viruses (herpes simplex, varicella zoster, Epstein-Barr, and pseudo-rabies), but only slightly active against human cytomegalovirus and inactive against RNA and other DNA viruses. And importantly, it was not toxic to mammalian cells (7).
Elion wanted to know the reason for this unusual selectivity, and she set up her own in-house virus lab to pursue in-depth studies (7). After laborious efforts, her group isolated, purified, and identified the enzyme, herpes-specific thymidine kinase, which was present in herpes viruses but not in mammalian cells or other viruses. This enzyme facilitates conversion of acyclovir to a toxic product (acyclovir-triphosphate), which acts as an antimetabolite and prevents replication of herpes viruses. This explained acyclovir’s selective action (7).
After successful clinical trials, acyclovir was approved by the FDA as an ointment and intravenous formulation in 1982 (1, 7). Several years later, an oral formulation was approved. Acyclovir alleviates the symptoms of herpes infections, decreases the time of viral shedding, and shortens healing time. It also decreases the severity of recurrent episodes (7). In 1991, acyclovir was Burroughs Wellcome’s largestselling product, with worldwide sales of $838 million ($1.8 billion in today’s currency) (1).
Acyclovir was the first selective antiviral drug, and Elion called it her final jewel (1, 4). “After that, everybody went to work in the field, so in addition to being an important compound, it was an important landmark” (1). The lessons learned about acyclovir’s
mechanism of action led to a better understanding of the enzymatic differences between healthy and virus-infected cells. Researchers began searching for other viral-specific enzymes that might be manipulated for antiviral effects. Clearly a pharmacologist at heart, Elion said, “Selectivity remains our aim, and understanding its basis [is] our guide to the future” (7).
Taking the Lead
The long and productive Hitchings-Elion collaboration combined the best qualities of two fine minds and unique personalities. Hitchings was a visionary brimming with cutting edge ideas, but he tended to treat people differently, depending on their status (1). On the other hand, Elion had a practical mind and always looked for the crucial experiments that would decide the question (1). According to Thomas Krenitsky, vice president of Burroughs Wellcome, “She’s always Trudy… whether the other person is a student, a glassware washer, or the president of the company” (1). Elion and Hitchings had worked alongside each other and written papers together for so long that it was difficult to differentiate their respective contributions (1). From 1944 to 1963, Elion was a senior research chemist, progressively taking on more responsibility (5). From 1963 to 1967, she was an assistant to the director of the Division of Chemotherapy (1, 2, 5). Hitchings was always the boss.
Then, when Hitchings retired from active research in 1967 to become vice president of research, Elion was named the head of the Department of Experimental Therapy (1). Some of her colleagues called it a “mini-institute” because it contained sections of chemistry, enzymology, pharmacology, immunology, and virology, as well as a tissue culture lab (2). This multidisciplinary group not only coordinated and facilitated development of new drugs but also clearly established what Elion could do on her own. Acyclovir was a prime example (2, 3).
Elion formally retired in 1983 but remained at Burroughs Wellcome as a Scientist Emeritus and Consultant (2). She actively participated in discussions, seminars, and staff meetings related to research. Among the important work they were doing at that time was development of azidothymidine (AZT), the first effective drug to treat HIV/AIDS. She declined to take credit for the work. “The only thing I can claim is training the people in the methodology… the work is all theirs” (1).
Elion also gave her time freely to students interested in science, to ensure that they retained and developed that interest (1). As a Research Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Duke University, she worked each year with a third-year medical student who wished to do research in tumor biochemistry and pharmacology (2, 3).
In a sense, she noted, her career had come full circle: from her early days as a teacher to sharing her research experience with new generations of scientists (2). In 1989, Burroughs Wellcome gave Elion $250,000 to donate to a charity of her choice. She awarded it to her alma mater for women’s fellowships in chemistry and biochemistry (1).
She served on various editorial boards and was a member of a number of professional societies, including ASPET. She also lectured, wrote, and received 25 honorary degrees. Among the first was an honorary doctorate in pharmacology from George Washington University. But the doctorate from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute held special significance because, she said, “it seemed poetic justice” (4).
Although she considered her work both her vocation and avocation, she made time for a few other pursuits, including music, travel, and photography (1). She subscribed to New York’s Metropolitan Opera for over 40 years (2). She also attended every classical music concert, every James Bond movie, and many of the college basketball games in the Research Triangle Park area (1).
To satisfy her curiosity about the world, she traveled widely throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, always packing a camera (1, 2). She would do anything to get the perfect photograph, including tramping up and down a mountain (1).
Her career culminated in 1988 when she received the Nobel Prize, along with George Hitchings. She was only the fifth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel Committee said any one of her lifesaving medicines could have earned her the prize, but they cited her unique approach to research as her greatest contribution (4).
She not only systematically synthesized each series of compounds but also employed cutting-edge pharmacology to understand the mechanisms of action of those compounds. In so doing, the compounds not only were effective therapeutic agents but also served as tools to elucidate biochemical pathways. Her results pointed to the existence of new enzymes, and later, those enzymes were isolated, identified, and given a name (4).
Her mechanism of action studies also revealed differences in metabolic pathways between mammalian cells and infectious organisms such as viruses and protozoa. She then exploited those differences to develop more selective antiviral and anti-protozoal drugs.
Today, that approach is called rational drug design, and it has been adopted by most pharmaceutical researchers (4).
A number of accolades followed the Nobel Prize. In 1990, Elion was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Drug Indications
6-mercaptopurine Leukemia chemotherapy Azathioprine Anti-rejection of organ transplant, autoimmune diseases
Pyrimethamine (Daraprim)
Trimethoprim (Bactrim)
Allopurinol
Acyclovir
Parasitic diseases
Pneumonia, bacterial infections
Gout, hyperuricemia
Herpes viral infections
The following year, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine, received the National Medal of Science, and was the first woman inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame. She remained actively engaged with researchers, saying, “I don’t want to die until I’m used up” (1).
On February 21, 1999, Elion collapsed while taking her daily walk and died later that day at the University of North Carolina Hospital (1). She always took great satisfaction in knowing that the drugs she invented and developed had benefitted so many patients. She would have been even more gratified to know that those medicines continue to be first- and second-line treatments. All of her major discoveries (6-MP, azathioprine, pyrimethamine, trimethoprim, allopurinol, and acyclovir) are still on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Drugs.
References:
1. Chung KT (2010) Women pioneers of medical research.
McFarland & Company, Inc. Jefferson, NC, pp 1440152. 2. Gertrude B. Elion – Biographical (1989) The Nobel
Prizes 1988, T Frägsmyr, ed, Nobel Foundation,
Stockholm: available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/ prizes/medicine/1988/elion/biographical/. 3. American Chemical Society, Women Scientists in
American History: Gertrude Elion (1918-1999); available from: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/ whatischemistry/women-scientists/gertrude-elion.html. 4. Academy of Achievement (February 16 ,2022)
Gertrude B. Elion Biography; available from: https://achievement.org/achiever/gertrudeelion/#:~:text=In%201988%2C%20she%20received%20 the,Lemelson%2DMIT%20Lifetime%20Achievement%20
Award. 5. Rubin RP (2007) A brief history of great discoveries in pharmacology: In celebration of the centennial anniversary of the founding of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
Pharmacol Rev 59(4): 289-359. 6. Michalovic M (December 3, 2007) Gertrude Elion,
Biochemist, Science History Institute; available from: https://sciencehistory.org/distillations/gertrude-elionbiochemist. 7. Elion GV (December 8, 1988) The purine path to chemotherapy. Nobel Lecture; available from: https:// www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/elion-lecture.pdf. 8. Hunger SP and Mullighan CG (2015) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. New Engl J Med 373(16): 1541-1552.
Biosketch:
Rebecca J. Anderson holds a bachelor’s in chemistry from Coe College and earned her doctorate in pharmacology from Georgetown University. She has 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development and now works as a technical writer. Her most recent book is Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS. Email rebeccanderson@msn.com.
In the next issue of The Pharmacologist…
Dr. Anderson will feature Parkinson's disease and L-DOPA.
