Pehr Victor Edman (14 April 1916 — 19 March 1977) was a Swedish

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 ...

. He developed a method for sequencing

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s; the Edman degradation.

Early life

Edman was born in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 1935, he started studying

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

Karolinska Institutet The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally. ...

, where he became interested in basic research and received a bachelor in medicine in 1938. His research was interrupted by the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where he was drafted to serve in the

Swedish army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...

. He returned to the

where he earned his doctoral degree under advice from Professor Erik Jorpes in 1946.

Developing the Edman Degradation

At the time Edman started working on Angiotensin, it was just being recognized that proteins are distinct entities with a defined

molecular mass The molecular mass () is the mass of a given molecule, often expressed in units of daltons (Da). Different molecules of the same compound may have different molecular masses because they contain different isotopes of an element. The derived quan ...

electric charge Electric charge (symbol ''q'', sometimes ''Q'') is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. Electric charge can be ''positive'' or ''negative''. Like charges repel each other and ...

and

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

. This inspired Edman to develop a method, that could be used to determine the sequence of

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

s in the protein. In 1947, he was awarded a travel stipend to go to Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research. When he returned to Sweden in 1950 to be an assistant professor at the

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

, he published his first paper using the method to determine the sequence of a protein, later known as Edman degradation. To his death, he continued to work to improve the method to be able to determine longer stretches with smaller amounts of sample.

Late career

In 1957, he moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to be the director of St. Vincent's School of Medical Research, now known as St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research. In 1967, he successfully developed an automated protein sequencer, called the sequenator, with his assistant Geoffrey Begg. In 1972, he moved to the Max-Planck-Institut of Biochemistry, Martinsried near

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He worked with his second wife, Agnes Henschen, and she used Edman's method to sequence

fibrinogen Fibrinogen (coagulation factor I) is a glycoprotein protein complex, complex, produced in the liver, that circulates in the blood of all vertebrates. During tissue and vascular injury, it is converted Enzyme, enzymatically by thrombin to fibrin ...

. In 1977, Edman died of a brain

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

after a short coma.

References

External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edman, Pehr Victor 1916 births 1977 deaths Scientists from Stockholm Swedish biochemists Karolinska Institute alumni Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Royal Society Max Planck Institute directors