Edwin C. Webb

Webb was born in Dorset and educated at Poole Grammar School and Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied nerve gases and graduated with a first-class BA in Natural Sciences in 1942.{{r|L}} He remained at Cambridge for his doctorate, where he was a Beit Fellow. There he worked in the laboratory of Malcolm Dixon, collaborating with him in the study of enzymes. Together, they wrote a classic textbook on the subject, Enzymes, which was first published by Longmans in 1958,{{cite book

| last1 = Dixon

| first1 = M

| last2= Webb

| first2 = EC

| title = Enzymes

| publisher = Longmans, Green, and Co.

| edition = 1st

| date = 1958

| location = London

}} Webb subsequently took a chair in biochemistry{{cite web|url = https://alumni.uq.edu.au/story/1596/professor-emeritus-edwin-webb-fraci|title = Professor Emeritus Edwin Webb FRACI|date = 8 January 2016}} at the University of Queensland but continued to collaborate with Dixon on further editions.{{cite book

| last1 = Dixon

| first1 = M

| last2= Webb

| first2 = EC

| title = Enzymes

| publisher = Longmans, Green, and Co.

| edition = 2nd

| date = 1964

| location = London

}}{{cite book

| last1 = Dixon

| first1 = M

| last2= Webb

| first2 = EC

| last3= Thorne

| first3 = CJR

| last4= Tipton

| first4 = KF

| title = Enzymes

| publisher = Longmans Group

| edition = 3rd

| date = 1979

| location = London

| isbn = 978-0122183584

}} In 1970, he became the deputy vice-chancellor at Queensland and in 1975 he became the second vice-chancellor of Macquarie University. He retired in 1986 but continued to work on the enzyme list of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) while living in Townsville.{{r|L}}

Webb's first paper was written with Kenneth Bailey on yeast pyrophosphatase,{{cite journal|doi= 10.1042/bj0380394 | title = Purification and Properties of Yeast Pyrophosphatase

| last1 = Bailey | first1 = K

| last2 = Webb | first2 = EC

| journal = Biochem. J.

| volume =38

| pages = 394–398

| date = 1944| issue = 5

| pmid = 16747821

| pmc = 1258115

}} the first of many papers on enzymes. It was followed by several papers on nerve gases, for example on British anti-lewisite with Ruth van Heyningen.{{cite journal|title = The action of British anti-lewisite (BAL) on enzyme systems

|last1 = Webb|first1 = EC

|last2 = van Heyningen|first2 = R

|journal = Biochem. J.

|volume = 41

|issue = 1

|pages= 74–78

|doi = 10.1042/bj0410074

|year= 1947|pmid = 16748122|pmc = 1258426}} Research collaboration with Malcolm Dixon began with a study of phosphotransferases,{{cite journal | doi= 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a074324| title= Phosphate-Transferring Enzymes| year= 1953| last1= Dixon| first1= M.| last2= Webb| first2= E. C.| journal= British Medical Bulletin| volume= 9| issue= 2| pages= 110–115| pmid= 13059393}} and continued with other work, both theoretical{{cite journal | title=Enzyme fractionation by salting-out – a theoretical note

| last1 = Dixon | first1 = M

| last2 = Webb | first2 = E C

| journal=Advances in Protein Chemistry

| volume=16

| pages=197–219

| year=1961 | doi = 10.1016/S0065-3233(08)60030-3 | pmid = 14028133 | isbn = 9780120342167 }} and experimental.

After moving to Queensland Webb collaborated with Burt Zerner on Jack bean urease, starting with a study of its purification and assay,{{cite journal | doi= 10.1021/bi00833a031| title= Jack bean urease (EC 3.5.1.5). A new purification and reliable rate assay| year= 1969| last1= Blakeley| first1= Robert L.| last2= Webb| first2= Edwin C.| last3= Zerner| first3= Burt| journal= Biochemistry| volume= 8| issue= 5| pages= 1984–1990| pmid= 4977580}} followed by other papers on the same enzyme. He also worked with Zerner on other enzymes, including carboxylesterases.{{cite journal

| doi= 10.1021/bi00833a037

|journal = Biochemistry

|last1 = Stoops|first1 = J K

|last2 = Horgan|first2 = D J

|last3 = Runnegar |first3 = M T

|last4 = De Jersey|first4 = J

|last5 = Webb | first5 = E C

|last6 = Zerner|first6 = B

|title = Carboxylesterases (EC 3.1.1). Kinetic studies on carboxylesterases

|year = 1969

|volume = 8|number=5

|pages = 2026–2033

|pmid = 5815945

}}

Webb's interest in biochemical nomenclature started early in his career,{{cite journal

| doi= 10.1038/225132a0|title = Communication in Biochemistry|journal = Nature|volume=225|issue = 5228|pages=132–135|last=Webb|first = E C |year = 1970|pmid = 5409959| bibcode=1970Natur.225..132W }} and after the IUBMB compilation was published for the last time as a printed book{{cite book| isbn= 978-0122271649| title= Enzyme Nomenclature 1992: Recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Nomenclature and Classification of Enzymes| last= Webb| first= Edwin C.| date= 10 September 1992|publisher = Academic Press|place = Orlando}} he wrote a retrospective article about it.{{cite journal

| title = Enzyme Nomenclature - a personal retrospective

| last = Webb | first= E C

| journal = FASEB J.

| volume = 7

| issue = 12

| pages = 1192–1194

| year = 1993

| doi = 10.1096/fasebj.7.12.8375619 | doi-access = free | pmid = 8375619 | s2cid = 9678760 }}

{{reflist |refs=

{{citation |doi=10.1080/15216540601055356 |journal=IUBMB Life |volume=58 |number=12 |pages=734–736 |date=December 2006 |author=Keith Tipton |title=Edwin Clifford Webb|doi-access=free }}

}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Edwin C.}}

Category:1921 births

Category:2006 deaths

Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge

Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge

Category:20th-century biochemists

Category:20th-century British chemists

Category:Academic staff of Macquarie University

Category:People from Dorset

Category:Academic staff of the University of Queensland

Category:21st-century biochemists

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