Herbert Tabor (November 28, 1918 – August 20, 2020) was an American biochemist and

physician-scientist A physician-scientist (in North American English) or clinician-scientist (in British English and Australian English) is a physician who divides their professional time between direct clinical practice with patients and scientific research. Physicia ...

who specialized in the function of

polyamine A polyamine is an organic compound having two or more amino groups. Alkyl polyamines occur naturally, but some are synthetic. Alkylpolyamines are colorless, hygroscopic, and water soluble. Near neutral pH, they exist as the ammonium derivatives. ...

s and their role in human health and disease. Tabor was a principal investigator at the

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) is part of the United States National Institutes of Health, which in turn is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. NIDDK is approximately the fifth-larges ...

where he was Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology. He was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the ''

Journal of Biological Chemistry The ''Journal of Biological Chemistry'' (''JBC'') is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1905., jbc.org Since 1925, it is published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research i ...

'' from 1971 to 2010.

Education

Tabor was born in New York City in 1918. Tabor received a Bachelor of Arts at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1937 and a Doctor of Medicine 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 ...

(HMS) in 1941. He was a researcher in the department of biological chemistry at HMS in 1941. Tabor worked in the lab of John Peters researching a carbon monoxide method to measure blood volumes while he completed a medical internship at

Yale New Haven Hospital Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the second-largest hospital in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It is the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Med ...

from 1942 to 1943.

Career

Tabor was a principal investigator at the

(NIDDK) until 2020 and was the Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology from 1962 to 1996. At the time of his death he held the record as the longest-serving employee in the history of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

(77 years). Tabor was the

of the ''

'' from 1971 to 2010. Under his direction the journal expanded from 1,000 to 4,500 published articles per annum. He led the transition to online publishing in 1995.

Research

Tabor researched the function of

s and their role in human health and disease. His research program investigated the biochemistry, regulation, and genetics of these

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

s and of the

biosynthetic Biosynthesis, i.e., chemical synthesis occurring in biological contexts, is a term most often referring to multi-step, enzyme- catalyzed processes where chemical substances absorbed as nutrients (or previously converted through biosynthesis) serve ...

enzymes in ''

S. cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been o ...

'' and ''

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escherichia'' that is commonly foun ...

''. Their work has demonstrated that the polyamines are required for growth of the organisms, their

sporulation In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plant ...

, protection against oxidative damage, protection against elevated temperatures, fidelity of protein biosynthesis, and for the maintenance of mitochondria. Tabor's lab has constructed clones that overproduce the various enzymes and have studied the sequence and structural characteristics of these enzymes. The research has concentrated on the structure and regulation of

ornithine decarboxylase The enzyme ornithine decarboxylase (, ODC) catalyzes the decarboxylation of ornithine (a product of the urea cycle) to form putrescine. This reaction is the committed step in polyamine synthesis. In humans, this protein has 461 amino acids ...

spermidine synthase Spermidine synthase is an enzyme () that catalyzes the transfer of the propylamine group from ''S''-adenosylmethioninamine to putrescine in the biosynthesis of spermidine. The systematic name is S-adenosyl 3-(methylthio)propylamine:putrescine 3- ...

spermine synthase Spermine synthase (, ''spermidine aminopropyltransferase'', ''spermine synthetase'') is an enzyme that converts spermidine into spermine. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction : S-adenosylmethioninamine + spermidine \rightleftha ...

, and

S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase The enzyme adenosylmethionine decarboxylase () catalyzes the conversion of ''S''-adenosyl methionine to ''S''-adenosylmethioninamine. Polyamines such as spermidine and spermine are essential for cellular growth under most conditions, being ...

Awards and honors

Tabor was elected to 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 ...

in 1977. In 1986, Tabor and his wife, Celia White Tabor, won the Hillebrand Prize from the Chemical Society of Washington. In 1995, they received a

William C. Rose Award The William C. Rose Award given by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology recognizes outstanding contributions to biochemical and molecular biological research and a demonstrated commitment to the training of younger scientists ...

Personal life

Tabor married physician-scientist Celia White in 1946. The couple had met through common friends six years earlier on a

Boston streetcar As with many large cities, a large number of Boston-area streetcar lines once existed, and many continued operating into the 1950s. However, only a few now remain, namely the four branches of the Green Line and the Mattapan Line, with only one ...

. They moved to the NIH campus in 1949 where they raised their daughter and three sons. Celia White Tabor died in 2012. Tabor died at his home on the NIH campus on August 20, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabor, Herbert 1918 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American biochemists 21st-century American biochemists 20th-century American physicians 21st-century American physicians American men centenarians National Institutes of Health people Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni American medical researchers City College of New York alumni American editors American academic journal editors Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Scientists from New York City Physicians from New York City Journal of Biological Chemistry editors Physician-scientists