Paul D. Boyer

Paul Delos Boyer (born July 31, 1918) is an American biochemist and analytical chemist. He is one of the laureates for the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on the "enzymatic mechanism underlying the biosynthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)".

Birth and education

Boyer was born in Provo, Utah. He grew up in a nonpracticing Mormon family. He attended Provo High School, where he was active in student government and the debating team. He received a B.S. in chemistry from Brigham Young University in 1939 and obtained a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Scholarship for graduate studies. Five days before leaving for Wisconsin, Paul married Lyda Whicker. They remain married and have three children: Gail B. Hayes, Alexandra Boyer and Dr. Douglas Boyer; and eight grandchildren: Imran Clark, Mashuri Clark, Rashid Clark, Djahari Clark, Faisal Clark, Lisa A. Hayes, Leah Boyer and Josh Boyer.

Academic career

After Boyer received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1943, he spent years at Stanford University on a war-related research project dedicated to stabilization of serum albumin for transfusions. He began his independent research career at the University of Minnesota and introduced kinetic, isotopic, and chemical methods for investigating enzyme mechanisms. In 1955, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and worked with Professor Hugo Theorell on the mechanism of alcohol dehydrogenase. In 1956, he accepted a Hill Foundation Professorship and moved to the medical campus of the University of Minnesota. In 1959-1960, he served as Chairman of the Biochemistry Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and in 1969-1970 as President of the American Society of Biological Chemists.

Since 1963, he has been a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California, Los Angeles. In 1965, he became the Founding Director of the Molecular Biology Institute and spearheaded the construction of the building and the organization of an interdepartmental Ph.D. program. This institutional service did not diminish the creativity and originality of his research program, which led to three postulates for the binding mechanism for ATP synthesis—that energy input was not used primarily to form ATP but to promote the binding of phosphate and mostly the release of tightly bound ATP; that three identical catalytic sites went through compulsory, sequential binding changes; and that the binding changes of the catalytic subunites, circularly arranged on the periphery of the enzyme, were driven by the rotation of a smaller internal subunit.

Paul Boyer was Editor or Associate Editor of the Annual Review of Biochemistry from 1963-1989. He was Editor of the classic series, "The Enzymes". In 1981, he was Faculty Research Lecturer at UCLA. In that same year, he was awarded the prestigious Tolman Medal by the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society.

References

• Boyer, Paul D (2002), "A research journey with ATP synthase.", Journal of Biological Chemistry 277 (42): 39045–61, 2002 Oct 18, doi:10.1074/jbc.X200001200, PMID 12181328 
• Allchin, Douglas (2002), "To err and win a nobel prize: Paul Boyer, ATP synthase and the emergence of bioenergetics.", Journal of the history of biology 35 (1): 149–72, doi:10.1023/A:1014583721788, PMID 12068893 
• Lores Arnaiz, G R (1998), "[Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1997: Jean Skou, Paul Boyer and John Walker: the motor of life]", Medicina (B Aires) 58 (1): 107–9, PMID 9674216 
• Boyer, P D (1995), "From human serum albumin to rotational catalysis by ATP synthase.", FASEB J. 9 (7): 559–61, 1995 Apr, PMID 7737466 

Publications

• Dahms, A. S. & P. D. Boyer. "Occurrence and Characteristics of {sup 18}O-exchange Reactions Catalyzed By Sodium- and Potassium-dependent Adenosine Triphosphatases", University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (1972).
• Kanazawa, T. & P. D. Boyer. "Occurrence and Characteristics of a Rapid Exchange of Phosphate Oxygens Catalyzed by Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Vesicles", University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (1972).
• Boyer, P. D. "Isotopic Studies on Structure-function Relationships of Nucleic Acids and Enzymes. Three Year Progress Report, May 1972 -- October 1975", University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Energy Research and Development Administration), (1975).
• Boyer, P. D. "Energy Capture and Use in Plants and Bacteria. Final Technical Report", University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), United States Department of Energy, (December 31, 1993).

External links

• Photograph, Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy
• Nobel autobio.-- Paul D. Boyer
• Nobel Prize press release-- The 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• UCLA webpage-- Paul D. Boyer