Earl Warren Davie (October 25, 1927 - June 6, 2020) was an American biochemist. He was a professor emeritus of biochemistry at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. Davie studied the

blood proteins Plasma proteins, sometimes referred to as blood proteins, are proteins present in blood plasma. They perform many different functions, including transport of hormones, vitamins and minerals in activity and functioning of the immune system. Other ...

involved in

coagulation Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a thrombus, blood clot. It results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The process of co ...

and was among the first scientists to describe the steps of the clotting process. He was a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...

and a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Early life

Davie was born on October 25, 1927, in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, to Charles and Teckla Davie. He grew up in La Grande, Washington and attended Eatonville High School. He received an undergraduate degree in 1950 from the

, where he had worked in the laboratory of biochemistry professor Donald Hanahan. He completed a Ph.D. at UW in 1954. During his doctoral studies, Davie worked with Hans Neurath to learn about protein structure and function.

Career

After a postdoctoral fellowship with Fritz Lipmann at

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 ...

, Davie worked at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine from 1957 to 1962, where he met hematologist Oscar Ratnoff, the discoverer of Hageman factor (later known as

factor XII Coagulation factor XII, also known as Hageman factor, is a plasma protein involved in coagulation. It is the zymogen form of factor XIIa (), an enzyme of the serine protease (or serine endopeptidase) class. In humans, factor XII is encoded by ' ...

). He then returned to the University of Washington, later chairing the biochemistry department for several years. Davie has made significant research contributions to the understanding of

. Davie and Ratnoff described the sequence of steps in the clotting cascade. Davie and Ratnoff published their clotting cascade model in 1964, around the same time that Robert Gwyn Macfarlane of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

produced a similar model. Davie cofounded a biotechnology company,

ZymoGenetics ZymoGenetics, Inc was one of the oldest biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies in the USA, based in Seattle, Washington. The company was involved in the development of therapeutic proteins. Located on Lake Union, the address of the ZymoGenetics ...

, in 1981. The company was purchased by

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S ...

several years later; in 2000, ZymoGenetics was recreated as an independent company and it was acquired by

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consist ...

in 2010.

Honors and awards

In 1980, Davie was elected to the

. He was named a fellow of the

in 1987. In 1993, Davie awarded the Stratton Medal from the

American Society of Hematology The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists, founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes the medi ...

; he was named a Legend in Hematology by the society in 2008. He received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

in 1995. The Centre for Blood Research at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

established the Earl W. Davie Symposium in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davie, Earl 2020 deaths 1927 births 20th-century American biochemists University of Washington alumni University of Washington faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences