A Tribute to George E. Palade

Obituary A tribute to George E. Palade George E. Palade (1912–2008) received Cellular and Molecular Medicine and his MD from the School of Medicine of transformed the development of basic sci- the University of Bucharest, Romania. He ences at UCSD. was a member of the faculty of that school Palade’s scientific contributions, which until 1945, when he came to the United spanned nearly 50 years, led to a funda- States for postdoctoral studies. Palade mental understanding of the structure joined Albert Claude at the Rockefeller and function of cells and defined the Institute for Medical Research in 1946 and new field of cell biology. They opened was appointed assistant professor there in novel areas of research that countless 1948. He progressed to full professor and scientists in diverse fields now explore. was head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology Reminiscing about the early days at the until 1973, when he moved to Yale Univer- Rockefeller when the field of cell biology sity as professor to establish the Section was conceived, Palade wrote, “After so of Cell Biology. He wrote that his move to many years, it is difficult to recapture in Yale was driven by “. my belief that the words the atmosphere of intense activity, time had come for fruitful interactions remarkable achievements, great excite- between the new discipline of Cell Biol- ment, and unlimited optimism that pre- ogy and the traditional fields of interest vailed in the laboratory, which otherwise of medical schools, namely Pathology and looked like an unattractive dungeon sunk Clinical Medicine” (1). Palade was chair of in the third basement of one of the old the Section of Cell Biology from 1975 to buildings of The Rockefeller Institute.” Figure 2 1983, when, upon his retirement as chair, “The new field had virtually no tradi- A cell biology giant. Photo courtesy of the it became the Department of Cell Biol- tion; everybody working in it came from author. ogy. That same year he was named Senior some other province in natural sciences.” Research Scientist, Professor Emeritus “Added to all this excitement was a per- of Cell Biology, and Special Advisor to vading free spirit — often irreverent but contributions to medicine, a reflection of the Dean. In 1990, Palade moved to the always helpful, because it acted as an anti- his training as an MD, which enabled him University of California, San Diego. Once dote against imagined grandeur. Keith to view his science in the larger context of again, he welcomed a new challenge and Porter was responsible for a good part of human disease. began an entirely new career as Professor that spirit” (2, 3). Fortunately, that spirit Palade was elected to membership in of Medicine in Residence and Dean for still exists in our field. the National Academy of Sciences, the Scientific Affairs in the School of Medi- Palade, along with Keith Porter and Institute of Medicine, and the American cine. He started the new Department of others at the Rockefeller, was a founder of Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1974, he the American Society for Cell Biology in received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or 1960, with approximately 230 members Medicine (shared with Albert Claude and at its first meeting in Chicago. The ASCB Christian de Duve). He was also a recipient has grown to a membership of approxi- of the National Medal of Science (USA) in mately 10,000, indicative of current activ- 1986, the Albert Lasker Award, the Gaird- ity in the field. Palade was its president ner Special Award, and many other honors. in 1976. He was active in establishing the In announcing the 1974 prize, the Nobel Journal of Cell Biology (originally the Jour- Committee said of Palade, “He added nal of Biochemical and Biophysical Cytology) important methodological improvements in 1955, as well as the Annual Reviews of both to the differential centrifugation and Cell Biology in 1985. Palade was influen- to the electron microscopy. In particular, tial as a member of the advisory panel to he became instrumental in combing the the director of the NIH in ensuring that two techniques . in order to obtain bio- support for the basic sciences was recog- logically basic information” (5). nized. The importance of basic science in He was best known for his pioneering human pathophysiology was indicated in work in elucidating the pathway for syn- his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize thesis and vectorial transport of proteins in 1974: “Cell biology finally makes pos- along the secretory pathway (6). This is sible a century-old dream: that of analysis exemplified in this classic electron micro- Figure 1 of diseases at the cellular level, the first graph taken by Palade from his 1955 arti- Palade first described the ER. Reproduced step toward their final control” (4). Phy- cle “A small particulate component of the with permission from the Journal of Biophysi- sician-scientists in all fields will imme- cytoplasm” (7) (Figure 1). There, he first cal and Biochemical Cytology (7). diately recognize the importance of his described the association of what were The Journal of Clinical Investigation http://www.jci.org Volume 118 Number 11 November 2008 3517 obituary subsequently determined to be ribosomes wonderful example set by both him and 1. Palade, G.E. 1974. Autobiography. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1974/ with membranes. He and Porter later his wife, cell biologist Marilyn Farquhar. palade-autobio.html. named this structure the endoplasmic As David Sabatini, one of his early gradu- 2. Palade, G.E. 1977. Keith Roberts Porter and the reticulum. Together, they and the group ate students at the Rockefeller, wrote of development of contemporary cell biology. J. Cell Biol. 75:D3–D18. at the Rockefeller developed techniques Palade (Figure 2) in 2004, “Palade’s per- 3. Tartakoff, A.M. 2002. George Emil Palade: char- for fixation and thin sectioning of cells, sonal attributes make him one of the most ismatic virtuoso of cell biology. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell for fractionating cells by centrifugation, admired and beloved figures in today’s Biol. 23:871–876. and for studying the fractions by elec- scientific scene. Palade not only has a pow- 4. Palade, G.E. 1974. Banquet speech: George E. Pal- ade’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, tron microscopy and biochemistry — the erful intellect that allows him quickly to 1974. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medi- essence of cell biology. cut to the essence of a scientific problem cine/laureates/1974/palade-speech.html. After a long illness, Palade passed away and propose for it a feasible solution, but 5. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet. 1974. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974 quietly at home on October 8, 2008, at is also a man of great human qualities [press release]. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ the age of 95. Palade will be remembered — warm and sensitive, polite and gracious” medicine/laureates/1974/press.html. and honored at Yale, the Rockefeller, and (8). His loss is profound. 6. Palade, G. 1975. Intracellular aspects of the process of protein synthesis. Science. 189:347–358. UCSD, where he has had a profound influ- 7. Palade, G.E., et al. 1955. A small particulate com- ence much beyond the boundaries of his James D. Jamieson ponent of the cytoplasm. J. Biophys. Biochem. Cytol. laboratory. He inspired so many students, Department of Cell Biology, Yale University 1:59–68. 8. UCSD. 2004. Program for the dedication of the postdocs, and faculty to ask important School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecti- George Palade Laboratories for Cellular and Molec- questions and to teach according to the cut, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. ular Medicine. March 16. 3518 The Journal of Clinical Investigation http://www.jci.org Volume 118 Number 11 November 2008.

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