Albert Ernst Renold (July 10, 1923 – March 21, 1988) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and clinical biochemist noted for his extensive research on

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. In 1986 he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine for contributions to the understanding of diabetes.

Early life

Renold was born on July 10, 1923, in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

, Germany, to a Swiss physician father and a German mother. He was also a descendant of the 19th-century German painter

Georg Friedrich Kersting Georg Friedrich Kersting (31 October 1785 – 1 July 1847) was a German painter, best known for his Biedermeier-style interior paintings and his association with fellow artist Caspar David Friedrich. Biography Kersting came from a lar ...

. He was raised in Switzerland, attending school in Montreaux and

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

before completing his medical studies at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

from 1941 to 1947. He completed his MD with a thesis on

caused by

alloxan Alloxan, sometimes referred to as alloxan monohydrate, is an organic compound with the formula . It is classified as a derivative of pyrimidine. The anhydrous derivative is also known, as well as a dimeric derivative. These are some of the earlie ...

Career

After graduating from the University of Zurich, Renold was awarded a scholarship from the American-Swiss Foundation for Scientific Exchange, allowing him to move to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1948 as a research fellow at New England Deaconess Hospital,

Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

, and

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. In Boston, he worked alongside Elliott P. Joslin,

Alexander Marble Alexander Marble (February 2, 1902 – September 13, 1992) was an American diabetologist who spent the majority of his career at the Joslin Diabetes Center. Life and career Marble was born in 1902 in Troy, Kansas. He attended the University of Kan ...

Albert Baird Hastings Albert Baird Hastings (November 20, 1895 – September 24, 1987) was an American biochemist and physiologist. He spent 28 years as the department chair and Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry at Harvard University. After retiring ...

, George W. Thorn and George F. Cahill Jr. He was appointed director of Harvard Medical School's Carbohydrate Research Laboratory in 1956 and director of New England Deaconess Hospital's Baker Clinic Research Laboratory in 1959; under his leadership the latter became internationally known for diabetes research. Renold returned to Switzerland in 1963 as a professor of medicine at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

. He also founded the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry in Geneva, where he hosted a variety of research fellows and visiting professors, largely focusing on diabetes research. The main theme of Renold's research during his time in Boston was the effect of

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...

adipose tissue Adipose tissue (also known as body fat or simply fat) is a loose connective tissue composed mostly of adipocytes. It also contains the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of cells including preadipocytes, fibroblasts, Blood vessel, vascular endothel ...

. Based on this principle, he and his colleagues developed a method for measuring insulin levels in blood and other fluids. This technique was used widely to estimate insulin levels until the later development of a

radioimmunoassay A radioimmunoassay (RIA) is an immunoassay that uses radioactive tracer, radiolabeled molecules in a stepwise formation of immune complexes. A RIA is a very sensitive in vitro assay technique used to measure concentrations of substances, usually m ...

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011) was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally) for development of the radioimmunoass ...

and

Solomon Berson Solomon Aaron Berson (April 22, 1918 – April 11, 1972) was an American physician and scientist whose discoveries, mostly together with Rosalyn Yalow, caused major advances in clinical biochemistry.Rall JE. ''Solomon A. Berson''. In "Biographic ...

. After Renold's move to Geneva, a large focus of his research was on the synthesis and secretion of insulin by pancreatic

beta cells Beta cells (β-cells) are specialized endocrine cells located within the pancreatic islets of Langerhans responsible for the production and release of insulin and amylin. Constituting ~50–70% of cells in human islets, beta cells play a vit ...

. Over his career, he authored over 400 scientific publications. Renold was involved in the establishment of the

European Association for the Study of Diabetes The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) is a scientific association founded in Montecatini Terme, Italy in 1965 with Joseph Hoet as Founding President. The aims of the association are to encourage and support research in the fie ...

(EASD) and the

European Society for Clinical Investigation The European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) was founded on February 12, 1967 as a pan-European society of clinicians and scientists. The Society covers all the topics of biomedical sciences and aims to create a common platform for researc ...

(ESCI). He served as president of EASD and the

International Diabetes Federation The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organisation of over 240 national diabetes associations in more than 161 countries and territories. It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Organization IDF is divided into seven reg ...

. He received the Otto-Naegeli-Preis in 1967 and the

Banting Medal The Banting Medal, officially the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement, is an annual award conferred by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), which is the highest award of ADA. Inaugurated in 1941, the prize is given in memory of Sir Frederic ...

in 1974. In 1986, he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine together with

Lelio Orci Lelio Orci (22 March 1937 – 22 October 2019) was an Italian scientist in the field of endocrinology and diabetes and emeritus professor in the Department of Morphology at the University of Geneva Medical School. Orci was born in 1937 in San ...

and

Gian Franco Bottazzo Gian Franco Bottazzo (1 August 1946 – 15 September 2017) was an Italian physician who spent most of his career in London. He was a prominent researcher in the field of diabetes and autoimmunity, and demonstrated that type 1 diabetes is associat ...

for contributions to the understanding of diabetes.

Death

In his later life, Renold suffered from a recurrent neurological disease. He died unexpectedly on March 21, 1988, in a hotel in Zurich; he was traveling back to Geneva after visiting his children in Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renold, Albert 1923 births 1988 deaths Swiss diabetologists Swiss biochemists Academic staff of the University of Geneva University of Zurich alumni