Jean Louis Auguste Brachet (19 March 1909 – 10 August 1988) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

biochemist who made a key contribution in understanding the role of RNA.

Life

Brachet was born in

Etterbeek Etterbeek (French: ; Dutch: ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, the City of Brussels, Ixelles, Schaerbeek, Wolu ...

near

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the son of Albert Brachet, embryologist. He was educated at L'Ecole Alsacienne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

then studied medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles graduating in 1934. He then worked at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

and at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and at several institutes of marine biological research. Brachet was appointed Professor of Animal Morphology and General Biology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Research Director of the International Laboratory for Genetics and Biophysics in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. In 1933 Brachet was able to show that DNA was found in

chromosomes A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

and that RNA was present in the

cytoplasm In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. ...

of all cells.Sapp J., ''Jean Brachet, L'Hérédité Générale and the Origins of Molecular Embryology'', History and philosophy of the life sciences (Hist. philos. life sci.), 1997, vol. 19, no 1 (dissem.), pp. 69–87, ISSN 0391-9714 His work with Torbjörn Caspersson showed that RNA plays an active role in protein synthesis. Brachet also carried out pioneering work in the field of cell differentiation. Brachet demonstrated that differentiation is preceded by the formation of new ribosomes and accompanied by the release from the nucleus of a wave of new messenger RNA. In 1934 he married Francoise de Baray. In 1948 Jean Brachet was awarded the

Francqui Prize The Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize named after Émile Francqui. Normally annually since 1933, the Francqui Foundation awards it in recognition of the achievements of a scholar or scientist, who at the start ...

for Biological and Medical Sciences.

Publications

*''Embryologie Chimique'' (1944) *''Biological Cytology'' (1957) *''Introduction to Molecular Embryology'' (1957) *''Molecular Cytology'' (2 vols.) (1985)

References

External links

Photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brachet, Jean 1909 births 1988 deaths Belgian biochemists Foreign Members of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni Academic staff of the Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) Princeton University fellows Schleiden Medal recipients