SEATTLE — A University of Washington scientist who was awarded the 1992 Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering a biological switch in cells has died. Dr. Edwin G. Krebs was 91.
Krebs passed away from complications of progressive heart failure on Monday at a care facility in Seattle, university officials said Wednesday.
Krebs joined the UW’s School of Medicine in 1948. In the 1950s, Krebs and a colleague, Dr. Edmond Fisher, discovered that enzymes that help release energy in cells can be activated and deactivated by the presence of phosphate. The men published their findings without much acclaim.
The accolades didn’t come till years later, as more scientists discovered that phosphate is a key regulator of many cellular activities and the human body’s metabolic processes.
Scientists say that problems with regulatory processes are partly the source of disorders like cancer, diabetes, nerve diseases and heart conditions.
Modern drug discovery efforts are aimed at the phosphorylation process, the process Krebs helped discover. He was 74 when in 1992 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Born in Lansing, Iowa, Krebs moved to Illinois when he was 15 after his father died unexpectedly during the Great Depression. His widowed mother wanted to be closer to her sons in college and brought Krebs with her.
He went to medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. There, he met his future wife, a student nurse at a hospital. Soon after they were married, Krebs shipped out to be a medical officer with the Navy during World War II. When he returned, he moved to the Seattle area to take a position with the UW.
Krebs decided to study science because it seemed like a secure job, UW officials said.
Krebs is survived by his wife of 64 years, Virginia “Deedy” Krebs and their three children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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