Bengt I. Samuelsson
Biochemists, Physiologists, Medical Scientists
A2 Healthcare Corporation
Japan
Biography
After years of painstaking work, Samuelson was able describe the molecular structure of prostaglandins and also to show that the compound is derived from arachidonic acid. Later, he began to concentrate on the transformation products of arachidonic acid, which in turn led to the identification of endoperoxides, thromboxanes and the leukotrienes. He also showed how this acid combines with oxygen to form prostaglandins. In a symposium held in 2014, scientists from all over the world hailed him as the founder of the research field Lipid Mediators.
Research Interest
At the University of Lund, Bergström gathered a team of graduate students and started his his work on prostaglandins. Samuelsson was one of them. By 1957, using countercurrent fractionations and partition chromatography, their team isolated two prostaglandin compounds, E1 and F1.
