Jorge Eduardo Allende Rivera, (born 11 November 1934) is a Chilean

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 ...

and

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

known for his contributions to the understanding of proteic biosynthesis and how

transfer RNA Transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA), formerly referred to as soluble ribonucleic acid (sRNA), is an adaptor molecule composed of RNA, typically 76 to 90 nucleotides in length (in eukaryotes). In a cell, it provides the physical link between the gene ...

is generated, and the regulation of maturation of

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. He has been a foreign associate of the

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

since 2001, and was awarded the Chilean National Prize for Nature Sciences (Chile) in 1992.

Early life

Jorge Allende was born in Cartago, Costa Rica, son of Octavio Allende Echeverría, Chilean Consul in the city of

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

, and Amparo Rivera Ortiz, a Costa Rican artist. Because of his father's job as a diplomat, he spent his childhood years between Costa Rica, Chile and the United States. He finished high school in a Jesuit School in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, where his father was appointed as the Chilean Consul. Subsequently, he studied at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, Louisiana. He obtained the Bachelor of Science in chemistry degree in 1957.

Career

He carried out his doctoral studies at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, United States, obtaining his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1961 under the tutorship of Prof. F.M. Richards. He did post doctoral work with Prof.

Fritz Lipmann Fritz Albert Lipmann (; June 12, 1899 – July 24, 1986) was a German-American biochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in ...

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

and with

Marshall Warren Nirenberg Marshall Warren Nirenberg (April 10, 1927 – January 15, 2010) was an American biochemist and geneticist. He shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 with Har Gobind Khorana and Robert W. Holley for "breaking the genetic code" ...

NIH 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 ...

. During the 1960s, his research was focused on

protein synthesis Protein biosynthesis, or protein synthesis, is a core biological process, occurring inside cells, balancing the loss of cellular proteins (via degradation or export) through the production of new proteins. Proteins perform a number of critica ...

, a field in which he made crucial contributions. In the 1970s he was a pioneer in studying the mechanism of hormonal induction of oocyte maturation. His later research is focused in two ubiquitous protein

kinases In biochemistry, a kinase () is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from High-energy phosphate, high-energy, phosphate-donating molecules to specific Substrate (biochemistry), substrates. This process is known as ...

, CK1 and CK2, involved in the

phosphorylation In biochemistry, phosphorylation is described as the "transfer of a phosphate group" from a donor to an acceptor. A common phosphorylating agent (phosphate donor) is ATP and a common family of acceptor are alcohols: : This equation can be writ ...

of key cellular proteins. He devoted much of his life to organizing activities for the scientific integration in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

especially through organizing series of training courses in

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

techniques, and through the creation of the Latin American Network of Biological Sciences. In recent years, Doctor Allende has been a promoter of science education through his personal commitment in several projects, like the Science Education Inquiry Based program, funded by the University of Chile, and through his participation in the Allende-Connelly Foundation, founded by him and his wife. Though he retired from active science in 2009, he remains a professor at the Faculty of Medicine. He was also Research Vice President of the University of Chile. He published his autobiography in 2010.

Personal life

He married Catherine Connelly (also a

) in

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

, On September 16, 1961. He raised a family of four children: Miguel Luis, Juan Ignacio, Jorge Eduardo and Maria Amparo and has 13 grandchildren. With his wife, Catherine Connelly, he was on sabbatical at the

University of California at San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Sc ...

, when the

1973 coup in Chile Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

took place. He returned to Chile in May 1974 and was one of the main defenders of the University of Chile's autonomy, endangered by the military intervention in academic life. In December 1975 he co-signed, with other academics, a letter entitled "University under surveillance" opposing military intervention in the University of Chile. The letter was written by philosopher Jorge Millas and published in the newspaper "

El Mercurio (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of ...

". The letter was the first appearance of a public statement by a group of academics who criticized the handling of the University of Chile by the military government.

Awards and distinctions

*2007 - Recipient of the puRkwa Prize. This is an "international prize for the scientific literacy of the children of the planet" awarded annually by the

École nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

and the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

. *2005 - Member of the Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Argentina *2002 - Medal of the Grand Cross of the Scientific Merit awarded by the President Brazil. *2001 - Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. *1993 - Honorary Doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. *1992 - National "Natural Sciences Award of Chile". *1990 - Foreign Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. *1986 to 1988 - "Scholar in Residence" of the Fogarty International Center in the United States. *1986 - Founding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Third World. *1983 - Member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. *1982 - Founding member of the Academy of Sciences of Latin America. *1966 -

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allende, Jorge 1934 births Living people Members of the Chilean Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Biochemists Chilean biochemists Chilean scientists Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Chilean expatriates in Costa Rica Chilean expatriates in the United States Members of the National Academy of Medicine Yale University alumni