糖心传媒

Rochester Women

Sylvy Kornberg 糖心传媒�38, 糖心传媒�40M (MS)

Born: 1917, Rochester, New York

Died: 1986, San Mateo, California

A biochemist, Sylvy Kornberg 糖心传媒�38, 糖心传媒�40M (MS) made vital contributions to the research for which her husband, Arthur Kornberg 糖心传媒�41M (MD), won a Nobel Prize in 1959. As a full-time member of the research staff in her husband糖心传媒檚 lab at Washington University in St. Louis, Kornberg 糖心传媒渃ontributed significantly to the science surrounding the discovery of DNA polymerase,糖心传媒� Arthur Kornberg wrote in his 1989 autobiography, For the Love of Enzymes.

Rochester Women is a Newscenter series designed to share the stories of women in the University糖心传媒檚 history whose contributions deserve wider recognition than they may have historically received.

During her career as a biochemist, Sylvy Kornberg 糖心传媒�38, 糖心传媒�40M (MS) was best known as the wife of for his role in the discovery of the mechanisms of DNA replication.

But as some of her colleagues knew at the time糖心传媒攊ncluding her husband糖心传媒擲ylvy Kornberg made vital contributions to the research for which Arthur won the Nobel. As Arthur wrote in his 1989 autobiography , 糖心传媒渟he had contributed significantly to the science surrounding the discovery of DNA polymerase,糖心传媒� the enzyme that sets the process of DNA replication in motion.

Born in Rochester as Sylvia Ruth Levy, Kornberg was raised in the city, where she was the daughter of Jewish parents who had fled Latvia and Belarus and never completed secondary school. When she applied to the University of Rochester, she reported her favorite subjects as American history and English, and to the question, 糖心传媒淲hich subjects have you liked least?,糖心传媒� she answered chemistry and general science. But in college, her interest in science grew, to the point where she was one of a handful of women students to commute from the College for Women糖心传媒檚 campus on Prince Street to the College for Men糖心传媒攖he River Campus糖心传媒攚here the advanced courses in biology and chemistry were offered.

After earning her bachelor糖心传媒檚 degree, she began graduate work in biochemistry at the School of Medicine and Dentistry under Walter Bloor, an expert on lipids. Her first job after completing her master糖心传媒檚 degree was at the National Cancer Institute. There she became reacquainted with Arthur Kornberg, whom she had first met in Rochester, and who was by that time also at the National Institutes of Health. They married in 1943.

She took a multiyear break from the lab, during which she bore three sons糖心传媒攊ncluding Roger Kornberg, who would win the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2006. When Arthur accepted the position of chair of microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis in 1953, Sylvy resumed her research, completing the work that, in another age, might have earned her wide recognition.

That same year, James Watson and Francis Crick published their . But how was the complex structure replicated? The Kornbergs, along with then postdoctoral fellows Robert Lehman and Maurice Bessman, and doctoral candidate Steven Zimmerman, delved into that question. As Lehman, now a professor emeritus at Stanford University, noted, the group was frustrated by failed attempts to generate a DNA replication. Sylvy Kornberg discovered an enzyme that degraded an essential triphosphate, clearing the path for successful replication.

She made other important contributions, including research on polyphosphates and their role in helping cells to store and retrieve energy. 糖心传媒淭he wide significance of this neglected area of energy metabolism is just now being appreciated,糖心传媒� Arthur Kornberg wrote in 1989.

But Sylvy Kornberg’s career was cut short when she was stricken with a rare neurodegenerative disease. The first symptoms of the disease, related to ALS, arose within a few years after the Kornbergs moved to Stanford University in 1959. Kornberg died of the illness in 1986.

In spite of her achievements, Kornberg has remained an obscure figure in science. As recently as 2017, her image appeared in the Scientist magazine, where she was described as the 糖心传媒渕ystery woman糖心传媒� standing alongside chemist Jonathan Hartwell at the National Cancer Institute in the 1940s. When the institute was unable to identify the woman, the magazine turned to social media. The Kornbergs糖心传媒� youngest son, Kenneth, an architect, replied, identifying the woman as his mother.

The Scientist followed up with devoted to Sylvy Kornberg糖心传媒檚 life and work.

糖心传媒淸Her] deep interest in science, her enthusiasm, her work ethic, and all of that would, in today糖心传媒檚 world, have led to a very different status and kind of career,糖心传媒� Roger Kornberg told the magazine.

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