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Alex Benjamin Novikoff ( ) was a Russian–born American biologist who is recognized for his pioneering works in the discoveries of
cell organelles In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit, usually within a cell, that has a specific function. The name ''organelle'' comes from the idea that these structures are parts of cells, as organs are to the body, hence ''organelle,'' the ...
. A victim of American
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
antagonism to
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
that he supported, he is also recognized as a public figure of the mid-20th century at the height of
McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...
in America. As his original discoveries such as cell organelles and
autophagy Autophagy (or autophagocytosis; from the Greek language, Greek , , meaning "self-devouring" and , , meaning "hollow") is the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-depe ...
earned other scientists
Nobel Prizes The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred ...
, he is regarded as one of the overlooked scientists to get Nobel Prize. Novikoff's most important achievements were in developing histochemical techniques that were used for discovering and are being used for studying structures and functions of cells. After he developed
cell fractionation In cell biology, cell fractionation is the process used to separate cell organelle, cellular components while preserving individual functions of each component. This is a method that was originally used to demonstrate the cellular location of vari ...
method, it became possible to identify and isolate cell organelles. He was the first to describe lysosome using electron microscopy; his collaborator
Christian de Duve Christian René Marie Joseph, Viscount de Duve (2 October 1917 – 4 May 2013) was a Nobel Prize-winning Belgian cytologist and biochemist. He made serendipitous discoveries of two cell organelles, peroxisomes and lysosomes, for which he sh ...
received Nobel Prize for the discovery. He was also the first to understand the process of cell eating, which he called "cytolysomes," now known as autophagy, another Nobel Prize-winning discovery. He developed the method for making liver cancer cells, later called Novikoff hepatoma, which paved the way for cellular experiments in cancer studies. Being accused of participation in Communist Party as disloyalty to the nation, Novikoff was dismissed in 1953 from the University of Vermont College of Medicine where he was serving as a tenured professor, upon his refusal to cooperate in disclosing his communist friends. He was even denied twice of his willingness to serve in the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Due to lack of substantial evidence, the case itself was dismissed after twenty years. The incident has become popularly known as the "Novikoff Affair", and is the most notable case of MaCarthyism in
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
. In 1983, after thirty years of his banishment, the university made an apology by presenting him an
honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
.


Early life and education

Novikoff was born to
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
parents in the small town of Semenivka in the Russian Empire. Hoping to overcome severe poverty under the then
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, his family
emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to the United States. The family settled in the Brownsville section of
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. His father earned their living by working as a salesman in a garment factory. Novikoff was a precocious boy, developing an early fascination for biology. His hobbies included
skinning Skinning is the act of skin removal. The process is done by humans to animals, mainly as a means to prepare the meat beneath for cooking and consumption, or to harvest the skin for making fur clothing or tanning it to make leather. The sk ...
and dissecting animal corpses, and he once boiled a dead cat to observe its skeleton. He skipped four grades, and completed high school when he was only fourteen years of age. He graduated with B.S. degree from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in 1931 at the age of eighteen. Even under financial constraints, the family encouraged him to study medicine. However,
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
at the time prevented him from entering medical school. He therefore pursued the only open opportunity by continuing at the same university to study zoology. He joined the graduate school in 1931, and completed his M.A. in 1933.


Career

While still at the graduate school, to support his studies, Novikoff worked as a part-time instructor at the new
Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...
. His initial research focused on experimental embryology, and soon his interest shifted to cell biology under the influence of Arthur Pollister. At age twenty-three, in 1936, he published his first technical paper titled "Transplantation of the polar lobe in '' Sabellaria vulgaris''." In 1938 he was awarded his PhD. He was not on good terms with the other teachers and the administration at Brooklyn College, such that his promotion was delayed for a year even after his new degree. He did a post-doc at the University of Wisconsin in 1946–1947. In 1947 he joined the University of Vermont College of Medicine as Professor of Experimental Pathology and Biochemistry. He was expelled from the institute in 1953 on charges of disloyalty to the nation. In 1955 he joined the faculty of pathology at the newly established
Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System. Einstein hosts Doc ...
, becoming full professor in 1958. He worked there for the rest of his life.


Achievements

During his career at Vermont, Novikoff had successfully developed a technique of
cell fractionation In cell biology, cell fractionation is the process used to separate cell organelle, cellular components while preserving individual functions of each component. This is a method that was originally used to demonstrate the cellular location of vari ...
. Using this he had separated cell fractions and identified six cell organelles, along with two unidentified fractions.
Christian de Duve Christian René Marie Joseph, Viscount de Duve (2 October 1917 – 4 May 2013) was a Nobel Prize-winning Belgian cytologist and biochemist. He made serendipitous discoveries of two cell organelles, peroxisomes and lysosomes, for which he sh ...
from
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
became interested in the unknown fractions. In 1952 de Duve proposed that the fraction contained membrane-bound particle having specific
enzymatic activity Enzyme assays are laboratory methods for measuring enzymatic activity. They are vital for the study of enzyme kinetics and enzyme inhibition. Enzyme units The quantity or concentration of an enzyme can be expressed in molar amounts, as with any ...
. Novikoff confirmed the enzyme activity in 1953. The two met at
Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
in New York City to discuss their results. In 1955, now confident that the membranous particles were cell organelles, de Duve gave a hypothetical name "
lysosomes A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle that is found in all mammalian cells, with the exception of red blood cells (erythrocytes). There are normally hundreds of lysosomes in the cytosol, where they function as the cell’s degradation cent ...
" to reflect their digestive properties. That same year, after visiting de Duve's laboratory, using his own histochemical protocol Novikoff successfully produced the first real images ( electron micrographs) of the new organelle. In 1965 with de Duve, he confirmed the location of the hydrolytic enzymes of lysosomes. Novikoff further established the importance of lysosomes in diseases. "It is largely due to Novikoff's bold and imaginative use of morphological techniques," de Duve praised him, "that lysosomes have come to be recognized in a broader biological context." de Duve went on to win the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...
in 1974 for the discovery of lysosomes, but Novikoff's contributions were forgotten. In 1956 Novikoff described a new class of membrane-bound organelles that he called " dense bodies." was the first to describe the actual lysosomal functions with respect to degradation of
mitochondria A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is us ...
. However he thought that the digestive activities he observed were due to other intracellular organelles which he called "cytolysomes". It was at the ''Ciba Foundation Symposium on Lysosomes'' held in London on 12–14 February 1963, that he explained this phenomenon in which organelles such as
endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...
,
ribosomes Ribosomes () are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (messenger RNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA molecules to fo ...
, mitochondria and other cell debris were degraded by autolysis in the cytolysomes. Then the following speaker de Duve correctly identified that these organelles were lysosomes, and named them autophagic vacuoles, and he introduced the term "
autophagy Autophagy (or autophagocytosis; from the Greek language, Greek , , meaning "self-devouring" and , , meaning "hollow") is the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-depe ...
" for the process of such intracellular digestion. In 1962 he established for the first time the functional relationship between ER, Golgi and lysosomes. He specifically showed that smooth-surfaced derivatives of the ER fused with the Golgi membranes and the Golgi membranes in turn fused with lysosomes. He was the first to show that this GERL is responsible vesicular transport during synthesis and sorting of proteins. He gave this functional organisation an acronym GERL, for ''G''olgi-''e''ndoplasmic ''r''eticulum-''l''ysosome. Novikoff's further works became a milestone in understanding the importance of autophagy in diseases such as
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
. He was the first to establish the type of liver tumour, now known in his honour as "Novikoff hepatoma". In 1961 with Sidney Goldfischer, Novikoff developed a staining method for the
Golgi body The Golgi apparatus (), also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. Part of the endomembrane system in the cytoplasm, it packages proteins into membrane-bound vesicles in ...
using the enzyme nucleosidediphosphatase, by which they described the enzymatic property of the organelle for the first time. In 1969 they developed a staining technique (alkaline diaminobenzidine, or DAB) by which they studied the structure of another new organelle,
peroxisome A peroxisome () is a membrane-bound organelle, a type of microbody, found in the cytoplasm of virtually all eukaryotic cells. Peroxisomes are oxidative organelles. Frequently, molecular oxygen serves as a co-substrate, from which hydrogen perox ...
, for the first time. In 1969 he gave the first clear-cut distinction between lysosomes and peroxisomes. In 1972, he and his wife discovered a new type of peroxisomes from the intestinal epithelium of rat, which they named "microperoxisome". His works in cell biology are best summed up in a textbook he wrote with his student Eric Holtzman, ''Cells and Organelles'', first published in 1970.


The Novikoff Affair

In 1935, Novikoff joined the Communist Party while he was working for PhD. He was most inspired by the scientific attitude of
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
towards the well-being of society, beside other idealistic issues. He helped writing and disseminating party newsletters in the Brooklyn campus, which was a centre of communist activity in the area. He became actively involved in the teachers' union and particularly fought against stratification of junior and senior faculty in the college. This caused serious antagonism with other teachers and the administration. In 1940 under a new college president, Novikoff was investigated for affiliation to the Communist Party. However, no further action was taken against him. During the Second World War he voluntarily applied to serve in the
US military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...
on a medical commission. His applications were declined twice, in 1943 and in 1944. The objections were based on the allegations in the previous documents that his "loyalty" to the nation was doubtful. Ironically, he was employed by the US Army after the war, in 1948, to analyse two films about
enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
and
carbohydrate metabolism Carbohydrate metabolism is the whole of the biochemistry, biochemical processes responsible for the metabolic anabolism, formation, catabolism, breakdown, and interconversion of carbohydrates in life, living organisms. Carbohydrates are central t ...
. Even then doubt about his loyalty resurfaced and his appointment was terminated soon after he completed the major work. In 1953 while he was a permanent faculty at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, at the time McCarthyism was at its height, anti-communist activists once again targeted him for his 1930s involvement in the Communist Party. But this time the case was taken to the federal level. On 23 April 1953, he refused to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security at
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, on anything about his past political life, especially on identification of his communist colleagues at Brooklyn College. His denial was taken as "positive evidence that he was the leader of communist-dominated union." Although he invoked the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, the Vermont administration made sure that the institute dismiss him. The then Vermont Governor Lee E. Emerson persuaded the university President Carl Borgmann to convene a six-person committee consisting of faculty and board of trustees, to assure that the "faculty is 100 percent pro-American and anti-communist". Even though the committee, chaired by Robert Joyce, voted 5 to 1 for Novikoff to remain in his profession, Emerson convinced the board of trustees to override the committee's decision. The trustees therefore suspended Novikoff on 16 July initially for a month, with the "walk or talk" ultimatum that if Novikoff would not return to Washington to reveal names before the Senate Committee, he would be dismissed from the university. Members of the university's chapter of the
American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States that was founded in 1915 in New York City and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAUP membership inc ...
could convince Borgmann in August 1953 that it was against the university bylaws to suspend Novikoff before any public hearing. Then a final hearing was convened that consisted of 23-member board of review, which included the governor, members of the board of trustees, and several faculty members. The board meeting on 29 August voted 14 to 8 to recommend the dismissal of Novikoff. A week later, on 5 September, the fifteen-member board of trustees confirmed his firing from the university, with a single dissenting vote from Robert Joyce. His case was kept open for twenty years, and having found no substantiated evidence, the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
closed his file in 1974, which by then contained 822 pages. Vermont University then conferred him an honorary doctorate of science as a way of apology in 1983, after thirty years of his dismissal, with 8,000 audience giving standing ovation, and the university saluted his "integrity and courage."


Awards and honours

* E.B.Wilson Award from the American Society for Cell Biology in 1982. *Elected to the
US National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...
in 1974. *A lifetime career grant of $25,000 annually for twenty-five years from the
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
in 1962. *Distinguished Service Award from Columbia University in 1960. *Elected President of
The Histochemical Society The Histochemical Society (HCS) is an academic society that was founded on March 24, 1950 at a meeting organized by Ralph D. Lillie of the National Institutes of Health. The idea for the Society arose during the 1949 Biological Stain Commission m ...
for the term 1958 to 1959. *Elected President of the American Society for Cell Biology for the term 1962 to 1963.


Death

Novikoff died on Friday, 28 January 1987, at the hospital of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was survived by his wife Dr Phyllis, two sons, two sisters (Lillian and Sonia), and two grandchildren.


References


Further reading

* *David R. Holmes (1989).
Stalking the Academic Communist: Intellectual Freedom and the Firing of Alex Novikoff
'. University of Vermont. *Robert Vincent Daniels (1991).
The University of Vermont: the first two hundred years
'. University of Vermont. *John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth (2003).
The Vermont Encyclopedia
'. UPNE.


External links


1940 United States Federal Census: Census & Voter ListAcademic TreeThe Histochemical Society past presidents
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novikoff, Alex Benjamin 1913 births 1987 deaths Columbia University School of General Studies alumni American cell biologists Jewish American scientists Brooklyn College faculty 20th-century Russian biologists Soviet emigrants to the United States Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 20th-century American biologists