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Talk Overview:
Edmond Fischer tells an engaging story of how he and Edwin Krebs were the first to observe reversible protein phosphorylation, a mechanism so ubiquitous, it influences almost every cellular process. This Nobel prize winning discovery happened over 60 years ago when Fischer and Krebs collaborated to study how the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase gets activated in cells. Working side-by-side at the bench, they isolated the phosphorylase from the muscle tissue of rabbits, and, in subsequent experiments, revealed that the enzyme was activated by the transfer of phosphate groups from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to the protein itself.
Speaker Bio:
Edmond Fischer is Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Washington. He, along with his colleague Edwin Krebs, demonstrated for the first time the mechanism of reversible protein phosphorylation on the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase. Fischer and Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for this discovery. Since their initial observations, Fischer devoted his research to understanding how reversible protein phosphorylation, particularly tyrosine phosphorylation, plays a role in a variety of cellular processes.