Robert Morgan Fink

Last updated
Robert Morgan Fink
Born(1915-09-22)September 22, 1915 [1]
Greenville, Illinois
Died September 5, 2012(2012-09-05) (aged 96) [2]
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Rochester
Scientific career
Fields Nuclear medicine
Institutions University of California, Los Angeles

Robert Morgan Fink (1915-2012) was an American biochemist who was a professor at University of California, Los Angeles. He and his wife Kathryn Ferguson Fink, also a biochemist, collaborated to develop techniques in nuclear medicine used for radiolabeling in the study of thyroid cancer treatment. [1]

Biochemist Scientist specialized in biochemistry

Biochemists are scientists that are trained in biochemistry.

University of California, Los Angeles Public research university in Los Angeles, California

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public research university in Los Angeles. It became the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919, making it the second-oldest undergraduate campus of the 10-campus University of California system. It offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. UCLA enrolls about 31,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students and had 119,000 applicants for Fall 2016, including transfer applicants, the most applicants for any American university.

Kathryn Ferguson Fink was an American biochemist known for her work in nuclear medicine, particularly in the use of radiolabeling to study metabolism. Fink spent most of her career at the University of California, Los Angeles, often collaborating with her fellow biochemist husband Robert Morgan Fink, and was the first Ph.D. to become a Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. She died of cancer in 1989.

Contents

Early life and education

Fink was born in Greenville, Illinois in 1915 as one of six children. He was an undergraduate first at Kansas State College and later at the University of Illinois, from which he graduated in 1937; he then did some graduate work at Lehigh University and received his PhD from the University of Rochester in 1942. During his graduate studies he met his fellow graduate student and future wife Kathryn Ferguson Fink. The couple married in 1941 and both did work with Stafford Warren supported by the Manhattan Project after finishing their PhDs. [1] [3] [4] In 1946 Fink was sent to Bikini Atoll for studies of radiation safety related to ongoing nuclear testing there. [5]

Greenville, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Greenville is a city in Bond County, Illinois, United States, 51 miles (82 km) east of St. Louis. The population as of the 2010 census was 7,000. It is the county seat of Bond County.

Lehigh University university in Pennsylvania

Lehigh University is an American private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Its undergraduate programs have been coeducational since the 1971–72 academic year. As of 2014, the university had 4,904 undergraduate students and 2,165 graduate students. Lehigh is considered one of the twenty-four Hidden Ivies in the Northeastern United States.

University of Rochester private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States

The University of Rochester, often simply referred to as Rochester, is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.

Academic career

Fink briefly held a faculty appointment at the University of Rochester during his Manhattan Project-related work, in which he performed experiments related to metabolism of radioactive elements, particularly polonium, in at least one case on terminally ill human patients in order to obtain data used to develop related occupational safety standards. Although they did not meet modern standards of informed consent, the report of these experiments has been noted as unusual in discussing the matter of consent with the subjects. [6]

Metabolism The set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of organisms

Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main purposes of metabolism are: the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes; the conversion of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the elimination of nitrogenous wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments..

Polonium Chemical element with atomic number 84

Polonium is a chemical element with symbol Po and atomic number 84. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character resembles that of its horizontal neighbors in the periodic table: thallium, lead, and bismuth. Due to the short half-life of all its isotopes, its natural occurrence is limited to tiny traces of the fleeting polonium-210 in uranium ores, as it is the penultimate daughter of natural uranium-238. Though slightly longer-lived isotopes exist, they are much more difficult to produce. Today, polonium is usually produced in milligram quantities by the neutron irradiation of bismuth. Due to its intense radioactivity, which results in the radiolysis of chemical bonds and radioactive self-heating, its chemistry has mostly been investigated on the trace scale only.

Informed consent process by means of which a research participant agrees to be the subject of research

Informed consent is a process for getting permission before conducting a healthcare intervention on a person, or for disclosing personal information. A health care provider may ask a patient to consent to receive therapy before providing it, or a clinical researcher may ask a research participant before enrolling that person into a clinical trial. Informed consent is collected according to guidelines from the fields of medical ethics and research ethics.

When Stafford Warren moved to UCLA to become the dean of the newly established medical school there, the Finks joined him in 1947, with Robert taking a position in the UCLA biochemistry department and Kathryn working at the medical school, where she would eventually become the first PhD (rather than MD) holder to be appointed as a professor of medicine. [7] The couple published extensively together about the use of radiolabeling with paper chromatography techniques for the study of metabolic pathways. These tools were applied to the study of chemotherapy in thyroid cancers. [1] Fink retired from UCLA in 1978. [1]

Paper chromatography

Paper chromatography is an analytical method used to separate colored chemicals or substances. It is primarily used as a teaching tool, having been replaced by other chromatography methods, such as thin-layer chromatography. A paper chromatography variant, two-dimensional chromatography involves using two solvents and rotating the paper 90° in between. This is useful for separating complex mixtures of compounds having similar polarity, for example, amino acids. The setup has three components. The mobile phase is a solution that travels up the stationary phase, due to capillary action. The mobile phase is generally mixture of polar organic solvent with water, while the stationary phase is water. Paper is used to support stationary phase (water). Difference between TLC and paper chromatography is that stationary phase in TLC is a layer of adsorbent, and stationary phase in paper chromatography is water.

Chemotherapy treatment of cancer with one or more cytotoxic anti-neoplastic drugs

Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent, or it may aim to prolong life or to reduce symptoms. Chemotherapy is one of the major categories of the medical discipline specifically devoted to pharmacotherapy for cancer, which is called medical oncology.

Thyroid endocrine gland in the front of the neck, below the Adam’s apple; consists of two lobes connected by an isthmus; secretes hormones that influence metabolic rate and protein synthesis

The thyroid gland, or simply the thyroid, is an endocrine gland in the neck, consisting of two lobes connected by an isthmus. It is found at the front of the neck, below the Adam's apple. The thyroid gland secretes three hormones, namely the thyroid hormones (thyroxine/T4 and triiodothyronine/T3) and calcitonin. The thyroid hormones primarily influence the metabolic rate and protein synthesis, but they also have many other effects including on development. The thyroid hormones are created from iodine and tyrosine. Calcitonin plays a role in calcium homeostasis.

Personal life

Fink and his wife Kathryn had two daughters. Kathryn died of cancer in 1989. Robert Fink died in 2012. [1]

Cancer disease of uncontrolled, unregulated and abnormal cell growth

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread to other parts of the body. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss and a change in bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they may have other causes. Over 100 types of cancers affect humans.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "PASSINGS: Robert Morgan Fink, Gene Vollnogle, Dorothy McGuire Williamson". Los Angeles Times. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Lin, Judy (10 September 2012). "In Memoriam: Robert Morgan Fink". UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Folkart, Burt A. (31 March 1989). "Kathryn Fink; UCLA Medical School Pioneer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Wayne, Tiffany K. (2011). American women of science since 1900. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. p. 394. ISBN   9781598841589.
  5. ↑ "Robert Fink, Renowned Scientist". Palisadian-Post. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Experiments of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation (1996). Final report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. New York [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN   9780195107920.
  7. ↑ Adams, William S. (1989). Krogh, David, ed. University of California: In Memoriam, 1989. University of California. p. 44.
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