826 CHIMIA 2009, 63, No. 12 THE 450TH ANNIVERSARYOFTHE ACADÉMIE ET UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE doi:10.2533/chimia.2009.826 Chimia 63 (2009) 826–829 © Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft History of Biochemistry at the University of Geneva From the Boulevard des Philosophes to Quai Ernest-Ansermet Jacques Deshusses and Howard Riezman* Abstract: A brief account of the developments in biochemistry at the Faculty of Science of the University of Ge- neva is given from its emergence from organic chemistry at the Ancienne Ecole de chimie to today’s Department of Biochemistry at the Section de chimie et biochimie. Keywords: Biochemistry at the University of Geneva Introduction Techniques also changed greatly with 1937) who dedicated a small amount of his time. As long as the interests were basic lecture time to chemical biology, toxicol- Biochemistry is a science that slowly analyses of the major components of living ogy and pharmacology. emerged from the field of organic chemis- materials, the methodology was inspired The history of biochemistry in Geneva try and initially focused on the chemistry from the chemistry of complex mixtures of really is tightly linked to the Ancienne of molecules isolated from living material. organic substances. Isolation and charac- Ecole de Chimie, which was located on the At this stage it was called biological chem- terization techniques were fundamental to Boulevard des Philosophes. This venerable istry. However, once the major components this process. More refined techniques com- building, inaugurated in 1877, housed sev- were analysed chemically, the scientific ing from molecular biology later appeared eral internationally renowned scientists. interest turned to their transformation, in gradually in the different departments, Chemistry was highly oriented towards what turned out to be enzymatic reactions, including various types of spectroscopy. inorganic chemistry, for example the pre- and how diverse biological functions are Even though the instrumentation was ini- cise determination of atomic weights by regulated. Up until the 1960s, the study tially relatively simple, the elevated cost of de Marignac during the 19th century, and of biochemistry was centered on primary some instruments required collaborations then turned towards analytical chemistry. metabolism of small molecules, in par- between different laboratories and led to a The weight given to organic chemistry and ticular on how energy is produced, stored number of collaborations within and out- research on natural products intensified lat- and the biosynthesis and catabolism of the side of the University. er. One can say that modern biochemistry basic building blocks, amino acids, sug- At the University of Geneva, Biochem- and enzymology began at the University of ars, lipidic compounds, and nucleotides. istry developed initially in the Faculty of Geneva with the arrival of Kurt H. Meyer However, with the import of physical and Sciences, however the Faculty of Medicine (1882–1952). He was nominated professor genetic techniques that allowed the deter- also had a biochemistry curriculum, more in 1932 and came from IG Farben in Ger- mination of the structure of DNA and the focused on physiological aspects, which many due to disagreements concerning the discovery of the genetic code, the field of justified the original name given to the future of the company. Meyer felt that due biochemistry grew enormously. Biochem- department, Physiological Chemistry and to the political climate in Nazi Germany ists were found distributed in different de- later changed to Medical Biochemistry. it would be impossible for him to obtain partments according to their diverse inter- The mention of Biochemistry as a Depart- an appointment at the Technical University ests, including Molecular Biology, Animal ment at the Medical School subsequently of Berlin.[1] Prof. Meyer’s group worked Biology and Plant Biology. disappeared and developments there will in several areas, but the principle interests not be discussed here. of his group centered on natural polymer structures like rubber, cellulose and starch (1940). In this field, he trained a colleague, Origins Prof. van der Wick (1902–1976) who fo- cused especially on the thermodynamic A pioneer of experimental biochemis- properties of elastic polymers like rubber. try came from an illustrious citizen of Ge- Prof. Meyer also studied the properties neva, Théodore de Saussure (1767–1845), of semi-permeable membranes and their although he was not a professor at the electrical properties. Studies in the Meyer university. At the end of the 18th century lab investigated the enzymes hydrolyzing *Correspondence: Prof. H. Riezman Department of Biochemistry, he discovered the role of carbon dioxide starch, in particular amylase (1940) and Sciences II and water on plant growth and outlined the phosphorylase (1942). To do this he intro- 30 quai Ernest-Ansermet basic reaction of photosynthesis. However, duced the first techniques of zone electro- CH-1211 Genève 4 many years passed before biochemistry phoresis for proteins. Tel.: +41 22 379 6469 Fax: +41 22 379 6470 became of interest at the university. Nev- One of Meyer’s students, Edmond E-mail: [email protected] ertheless, one can cite Amé Pictet (1857– Fischer, was greatly influenced by Prof. THE 450TH ANNIVERSARYOFTHE ACADÉMIE ET UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE CHIMIA 2009, 63, No. 12 827 Meyer. He finished his thesis on phos- Fig. A copy of a diplo- phorylase in 1947 and also purified amy- ma delivered in 1959 lase. Edmond Fischer maintained frequent before the creation contact even after he pursued his career in of the department of Seattle Washington, in the United States. biochemistry. At the time, a dual degree in His work on the reversible phosphoryla- chemistry and biology tion of proteins earned him the Nobel Prize was awarded. for Medicine in 1992. An interview with Edmond Fischer describing his years with Kurt H. Meyer also appears in this vol- ume. Roger-Aymon Boissonnas, another student of Prof. Meyer rose to high levels in the scientific hierarchy of the chemical industry in Basel. Boissonnas received his privat-docent in 1950 to give a course on complex sugars and polysaccharides (1950) and then on the chemical synthe- sis of peptides (1952). Another student of Prof. Meyer, Eric Stein, as we will see be- low, became professor of biochemistry in Geneva. Upon the death of Prof. Meyer in April 1952, the University of Geneva appointed Théodore Posternak (1903–1982). He came to Geneva from Basel in 1953 and in certain ways took over the succession of Kurt H. Meyer. A special chair was created for him and his laboratory was called Chimie Biologique et Organique Speciale (BOS) because the section real- ized the importance of the new science, biochemistry, that was emerging from or- ganic chemistry and that the University of Geneva had a late start in this field. Prof. Posternak became renowned for his elu- cidation of the three-dimensional struc- ture of myo-inositol when he previously the organic chemistry course that was giv- today, and the passage of the new univer- worked in Lausanne. He pursued several en for all of the science students. sity law (see below). However, already lines of research including the synthesis Starting in 1967 the BOSD (it was in 1966 Eric Stein was nominated for the and structure of cyclic molecules of the called the BOS lab) laboratory was split Biochemistry course given for biologists. inositol family and their phosphorylated into different buildings, in Sciences I and Stein also studied with Kurt H. Meyer and derivatives, their metabolic fates in yeast the Pavillon des Isotopes, quai Ernest- worked with Edmond Fischer at the time. and animals, the analysis of inositol-con- Ansermet, while part remained in the They pursued a 15 year-collaboration and taining lipids. He branched out to studying Ancienne Ecole de Chimie. By 1973, the life-long friendship. Stein’s research was analogues of cyclic AMP that were mem- different groups were reunited in a new inspired by his postdoctoral work with brane permeant and able to act as second reorganization when the building Sciences Prof. Hans Neurath (Nobel prize winner) messengers in the activation of cellular sig- II was opened. The groups of Profs. Stein, in Seattle, who also recruited Edmond naling pathways. Prof. Posternak was not Bargetzi and Kobr also moved at the same Fischer to the University of Washington, only an excellent sugar chemist, but he also time into their newly created department, and was focused on hydrolytic enzymes worked on the synthesis of nucleotide de- called the Department of Biochemistry. acting on starch and afterwards on the pro- rivatives and fungal pigments. His courses There were numerous doctorates teins that bind calcium with high affinity. were principally focused on metabolism, awarded to people who took over academ- Jean-Pierre Bargetzi was nominated because the recent insights into structural ic or industrial leading positions, among professor with his position coming from biology were not yet available. His course which were: Dominique Reymond (Nestlé, the Swiss National Science Foundation was called chimie biologique. The students Loréal), Anne-Lise Haenni (professor, Pa- ad personam. He also spent some time interested in these phenomena could fol- ris, France), Etienne Charollais (professor, in the laboratory of Hans Neurath and he low a hybrid curriculum between biology Genève, Lausanne), Jacques Deshusses worked on the structure of collagen as well and chemistry (Fig.). (professor Dept Biochimie, Genève, see as enzyme mechanisms. Bargetzi came to In parallel Prof. Emile Cherbuliez below), and Albert Gabai (chemist with Geneva from Neuchatel where he used (1891–1985) was chair of Pharmaceuti- Givaudan) among others. biochemical methods to study problems in cal Chemistry, then Organic Chemistry. taxonomy. He worked on phosphatase (1949), casein In 1973 another major change in the (1950) and on the chemical phosphoryla- Modern Times university influenced the studies of bio- tion of alcohols (1952). He was also in- chemistry, as well as other disciplines.