Both men began their careers in the United Kingdom, studying synthetic organic chemistry. In the early 1960s both began researching how plants made molecules: Dr. Scott studying penicillin and anti-tumor agents, Dr. Battersby morphine and alkaloids for treatment of childhood leukemia. Organisms make substances like these through a series of reactions, each catalyzed by a specific enzyme. It was the development of a new technique in the late 1960s that first allowed scientists to begin studying complex molecules with vast numbers of sequential reactions. The Welch Award co-recipients were pioneers in applying a stable isotope of carbon, available then to researchers for the first time, in conjunction with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to their research.
"I was so excited by the technique's potential power that we began making the materials we would need even before we had funding for a suitable NMR spectrometer," said Dr. Battersby. "B12 * a structure called 'frighteningly complex' by colleagues * presented just the challenge I like. And the elucidation of the pathway to it, in collaboration with an outstanding group of French biologists, is one of the major highlights of my scientific career." Adding the techniques of molecular biology and genetics to the enormous power of organic chemistry and spectroscopy, the Anglo-French team completed the mapping of the B12 pathway in the mid-1980s. This research also made it possible to increase the productivity level of microorganisms making the compound.
Dr. Battersby used the approach to study other "pigments of life" * what he calls the group that includes the chlorophylls essential for photosynthesis, the porphyrins of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin and myglobin, and other bio-molecules critical to life.
Dr. Scott's research followed a similar pattern: initial success in understanding B12's structure, foll
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Contact: Sarah Voss or Megan Mastal
svoss@hillandknowlton.com
713-752-1900
The Welch Foundation
30-May-2000