Betty Mack Twarog (August 28, 1927 – February 6, 2013) was an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

who was the first to find

serotonin Serotonin (), also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a monoamine neurotransmitter with a wide range of functions in both the central nervous system (CNS) and also peripheral tissues. It is involved in mood, cognition, reward, learning, ...

in mammalian brain.

Life and career

Betty M Twarog was born on August 28, 1927, in New York City. She attended

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

from 1944 to 1948, focusing on mathematics. While studying for an M.Sc. at Tufts College she heard a lecture on mollusc muscle neurology and in 1949 enrolled under John Welsh in the PhD program at Harvard to study this area. By 1952 she had submitted a paper showing that serotonin had a role as a neurotransmitter in mussels. In autumn 1952 Twarog moved for family reasons to the Kent State University area, and chose the

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Academic health science center, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an O ...

as a place to continue her study of her hypothesis that invertebrate neurotransmitters would also be found in mammals. Although her supporter there,

Irvine Page Irvine Heinly Page (January 7, 1901 – June 10, 1991) was an American physiologist who played an important part in the field of hypertension for almost 60 years while working at the Cleveland Clinic as the first Chair of Research.Frohlich ED, Du ...

did not believe serotonin would be found in the brain, he nevertheless gave Twarog a laboratory and technician. By June 1953 a paper was submitted announcing the isolation of serotonin in mammalian brain. Twarog left the Cleveland Clinic in 1954 and continued to work on invertebrate smooth muscle at Tufts, Harvard and SUNY at Stony Brook. In later years, at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, she worked on how shellfish evade

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...

poisons. She was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in 1972. Twarog died on February 6, 2013, at the age of 85 in

Damariscotta, Maine Damariscotta (/ dæmrɪˈskɒtə/ ) is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,297 at the 2020 census. Damariscotta is the oyster capital of New England. A popular tourist destination, the towns of Damariscotta and ...

Impact in science and medicine

Twarog's isolation of serotonin in brain established its potential as a neurotransmitter and thus a modulator of brain action. Her discovery was an essential precursor to the creation in 1978 of the antidepressant

SSRI Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of drugs that are typically used as antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and other psychological conditions. SSRIs primarily work by ...

medicines such as

fluoxetine Fluoxetine, sold under the brand name Prozac, among others, is an Antidepressant, antidepressant medication of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, Anxiety disorder, anx ...

and

sertraline Sertraline, sold under the brand name Zoloft among others, is an Antidepressant, antidepressant medication of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class used to treat major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, socia ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twarog, Betty American women biochemists Harvard University alumni Cleveland Clinic people 1927 births 2013 deaths Swarthmore College alumni People from Damariscotta, Maine Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni 21st-century American women