Alexander E. Braunstein

Alexander Evseevich Braunstein
Born (1902-05-26)May 26, 1902
Kharkov, Ukraine
Died July 1, 1986(1986-07-01) (aged 84)
Moscow
Citizenship Soviet Union
Fields Biochemistry, enzymology
Doctoral advisor Vladimir Engelhardt
Known for Studies of enzymatic transamination and vitamin B6

Alexander Evseevich Braunstein (1902-1986) was a biochemist who spent his career working in what was then the Soviet Union. He is best known for his co-discovery, along with Maria Kritzman, of enzymatic transamination and its dependence on vitamin B6. Braunstein and American scientist Esmond Snell have been cited as the "fathers of vitamin B6".[1]

Early life and education

Braunstein was born in Kharkiv (then Kharkov), Ukraine in 1902. His father was an ophthalmologist. In his early education he displayed a facility for learning languages, became interested in studying chemistry, and eventually began study in medicine in 1920 at the Kharkov State Medical Institute. He then moved to Moscow and received his Ph.D. under the supervision of Vladimir Engelhardt in 1928.[2]

Academic career

Braunstein spent his early scientific career at the People's Commissariat of Health. In 1936, he moved to the A. M. Gorky Institute of Experimental Medicine. In 1945, after the end of World War II, he assumed leadership of a laboratory at the Institute of Biological and Medical Chemistry, under the auspices of the then-new USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1959, when his former Ph.D. advisor Engelhardt founded a new Institute of Radiation and Physico-Chemical Biology (later the Institute of Molecular Biology), Braunstein headed a laboratory there.[2]

Research

Braunstein's best-known work centered on enzymatic transamination and the role of vitamin B6 (specifically, in its pyridoxal phosphate form) as a cofactor in these reactions. Along with Maria Kritzman, Braunstein co-discovered the phenomenon of transamination and described its biological significance in a series of papers beginning in 1937.[3] Later, Braunstein's and Esmond Snell's research groups independently described a general catalytic mechanism for enzymes dependent on the biologically active form of vitamin B6, known as pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), as a cofactor.[4] In his later career, Braunstein focused on X-ray crystallography, attempting to solve the structure of transaminase enzymes.[2]

After his death, Braunstein was recognized by colleagues for his scientific leadership. His skill with languages was remembered as facilitating international meetings throughout his career, at a time when English was less established as the common language of scientific discourse. As well as publishing in both Russian- and English-language scientific journals, Braunstein also translated scientific works.[5]

Awards and honors

In recognition of his contributions to the study of vitamin B6 biochemistry, the 1987 meeting in a regular series of international symposia on pyridoxal catalysis was dedicated to Braunstein's memory.[1][5]

References

  1. 1 2 Hackert, Martin L.; Miles, Edith W.; Reed, Lester J. (2009). "Esmond Emerson Snell: 1914-2003" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Demidkina, T.V. (13 May 2002). "Alexander Evseevich Braunstein". Biokhimiya. 67 (10).
  3. ↑ Cooper, AJ; Meister, A (April 1989). "An appreciation of Professor Alexander E. Braunstein. The discovery and scope of enzymatic transamination.". Biochimie. 71 (4): 387–404. PMID 2503044.
  4. ↑ Schneider, Gunter; Käck, Helena; Lindqvist, Ylva (January 2000). "The manifold of vitamin B6 dependent enzymes". Structure. 8 (1): R1–R6. doi:10.1016/S0969-2126(00)00085-X.
  5. 1 2 Meister, Alton (1987). "Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on Chemical and Biological Aspects of Vitamin B6 Catalysis". Professor Alexander E. Braunstein; Some Reminiscences. Birkhäuser Congress Reports. pp. 11–13. ISBN 978-3-0348-9308-4.
  6. ↑ "Mitgliederverzeichnis". Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "Aleksandr Evseyevich Braunstein". American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  8. ↑ "Aleksandr E. Braunstein". National Academy of Sciences Member Directory. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
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