Sam Granick
{{Short description|American biochemist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|02|16}}
| birth_place = New York City
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|04|29|1909|02|16}}
| death_place =
| spouse = Elsa
| children = One daughter, one son
| education = University of Michigan (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)
| child =
| fields = Biochemistry
| known_for = Iron metabolism
| workplaces = Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
| thesis_title =
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year =
| doctoral_advisor =
| academic_advisors = Leonor Michaelis
| doctoral_students =
}}
Sam Granick (February 16, 1909 – April 29, 1977) was an American biochemist known for his studies of ferritin and iron metabolism more broadly, of chloroplast structure, and of the biosynthesis of heme and related molecules.
Life
Granick was born in New York City, and earned a B.S. (1931), M.S. (1933) and Ph.D. (1938) degrees from the University of Michigan, where he completed a dissertation in plant physiology. In 1939 Granick joined the laboratory of biochemist Leonor Michaelis at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research; he would remain at the Rockefeller Institute for the rest of his scientific career.Attallah Kappas and Richard D. Levere, "[http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/reprint/50/3/543 In memoriam: Sam Granick 1909-1977]", Blood, volume 50, number 3, September 1977, p. 543.
Research
Between 1942 and 1946, Granick and Michaelis, along with Alexandre Rothen, published a series of important research papers on ferritin and other ferric compounds in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. In the first paper,{{cite journal | title= Ferritin I. Physical and chemical properties of horse spleen ferritin | journal = J. Biol. Chem. | volume = 146 | number = 2 | pages = 451]461 | year = 1942 | author = Granick, S.}} Granick showed that contrary to earlier studies purified ferritin contains no nucleic acid and varies in its content of iron and phosphorus. A second paper, by Granick and Michaelis,{{cite journal | journal = J. Biol. Chem. | title = Ferritin II. Apoferritin of horse spleen |author1=Granick, S. |author2=Michaelis, L. |volume = 147| number = 1 | pages = 91–97 | year = 1943}} showed that iron could be removed from ferritin to produce apoferritin. Granick went on to study the structure of chloroplasts, a continuation of previous work,{{cite journal | doi= 10.2307/2436514 | journal = Amer. J. Bot. | volume = 25 | number = 8 | pages = 561–567 | year = 1938 | author = Granick, S. | title = Chloroplast nitrogen of some higher plants}} including, in 1947 with Keith R. Porter, the first application of an electron microscope to chloroplasts.{{cite journal | doi=10.2307/2437335 | journal = Amer. J. Bot. | volume = 34 | number = 10 | pages = 545–550 |author1=Granick, S. |author2=Porter, K. R. | title = The structure of the spinach chloroplast as interpreted with the electron microscope | year = 1947}}{{Cite journal| volume = 279| issue = 49| pages = e9–11| last = Kresge| first = Nicole|author2=Robert D. Simoni |author3=Robert L. Hill | title = The Characterization of Ferritin and Apoferritin by Leonor Michaelis and Sam Granick| journal = Journal of Biological Chemistry| accessdate = 2009-03-06| date = 2004-12-03| url = http://www.jbc.org}}
Distinctions
Granick was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Notes and references
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Category:20th-century American biochemists
Category:Rockefeller University people
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences