Van Rensselaer Potter (1911-2001) was a biochemist and bioethicist of American origin. All his work was devoted to cancer research, eventually working as a professor in the area of oncology at the McArdle laboratory at the University of Wisconsin.
Some claim that he was the first person to use the word bioethics, although scientists in this branch are generally opposed to this statement, since Fritz Jahr is considered the father of bioethics.
Van Rensselaer Potter. Image taken from
He was also concerned about politics and activism, having been part of multiple associations and organizations that had environmental concerns and dedicated to health or cell biology.
Biography
Early years
Van Rensselaer Potter was born on August 27, 1911, in northeastern South Dakota. He came into the world on a farm that was owned by his paternal grandparents. They named him precisely in honor of his grandfather, who died when he was just 51 years old, a year before the scientist was born.
His mother, Eva Herpel Potter, was killed in a car accident when Van was just a seven-year-old boy. This fact strengthened the bond between Van Rensselaer and his father, Arthur Howard Potter. His father remarried, with Anna Sivertson, and from that relationship the two Van Rensselaer sisters were born.
He always had a very good relationship with his sisters. Although they and their families lived far from Tacoma, in Washington, the scientist's chosen place of residence.
Studies
He finished his secondary education in 1928, an apprenticeship that he completed at the Pierpont School, where he attended classes that only numbered just over ten students.
When he finished high school, he enrolled in South Dakota State College, thanks to the help of his two grandmothers. They both contributed $ 800 for Van Rensselaer to continue his academic training.
Already in her second year, she was able to earn enough money to take care of all her expenses. In addition, he won special recognition, which was awarded by his teachers and by his boss, Kurt Walter Franke, the manager of the chemistry area at the experiment station.
His first job was to wash the cages in which were the rats that were part of the experiments in the laboratory. She was also in charge of designing the diets for these animals.
Little by little it was acquiring new functions. Later he was in charge of feeding and weighing the animals and then he was the one who dissected them when they died from selenium contamination.
With the passage of time he was given the freedom to develop different experiments in the laboratory. Some of them lasted several months. She also shared the evolorship of several articles that were published in the Journal of Nutrition, where she wrote about the work carried out as a university student.
He received his BA in 1933 with high honors, achieving a specialty in chemistry and biology. After completing his basic studies, he stayed in the laboratory working alongside Franke. Meanwhile, he did some postgraduate courses although his intention was to obtain a scholarship to be able to aspire to a doctorate.
Personal life
During his time as a student he met Vivian Christensen, who was also a student at the university. In 1935 Van Rensselaer won a scholarship from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation to work in the department of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, under the guidance of Professor Conrad Elvehjem.
Thanks to this scholarship, which provided financial aid, Van Rensselaer managed to marry Christensen on August 3, 1935.
PhDs
In 1938 he received his doctorate in medical physiology. Thanks to this he was able to obtain another scholarship, this time postdoctoral and from the National Research Council. The plan was to travel to Stockholm, Sweden, to work with Professor Hans von Euler.
For the second year of his postdoctoral work, a trip to England was organized to share knowledge with Professor Han Krebs. Van Rensselaer reached English territory a day after World War II began and was ordered to return to the United States immediately.
Back in America he landed a position at McArdle Laboratory. He was, along with Harold Rusch, the only staff member in that lab. In 1940 he was granted residence on the university campus and in 1947 he held the position of full professor.
Van Rensselaer Potter died at the age of 90 on Thursday, September 6, 2001. His death occurred in a hospital in the United Kingdom, while he was surrounded by his family. His death occurred when he did not overcome a short illness that afflicted him.
Contributions
His professional career was focused on researching cancer. She used rats for most of her experiments.
One of them consisted of determining all the varieties of enzymes that existed in liver tumors that were transplanted into rats. These liver tumors were the product of about 40 different primary tumors caused by some chemicals that were introduced into the diet of the animals.
With the development of the experiments, it was remarkable how cancer was part of a process that had different stages. Genetic mutations were capable of promoting cancer.
He was not involved in cancer therapy, but his studies led to new forms of chemotherapy being possible.
His study in 1951 was based on enzyme inhibitors. Thanks to these experiments Van Rensselaer proposed that different combinations of chemotherapy agents be tested. Van Rensselaer's ideas were applied in different medical cases.
Politics
After years dedicated to the world of science, Van Rensselaer also played a role in the area of politics. In the 1960s he joined a group of activists for the creation of a building on the shores of Lake Monona, in Madison.
He was also president of the Monona Terrace Citizens' Community and worked closely with Mayor Otto Festge. He raised the project to build the Monona Basin, but his ideas did not have a happy ending at the time. The project was only approved 30 years later, being built in 1997.
Van Rensselaer was also elected president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 1964. The role of president was also served by the Cancer Association in 1974.
He was a member of multiple associations and organizations. Throughout her career she had no problem working for different committees focused on studying cancer.
At the international level Van Rensselaer's work was also recognized. He gave a large number of lectures around the world. In 1970 he popularized the term bioethics.
Finally, Van Rensselaer retired from professional life in 1982, although he published a book six years later called Global Bioethics, Building on the Leopold Legacy. He also published some articles before he died.
References
- Amir Muzur, I. (2012). Van Rensselaer Potter and His Place in the History of Bioethics. LIT VERLAG WIEN.
- De Vecchi, G. (2007). Introduction to bioethics. Caracas: Paulinas Editorial.
- Edwards, D. (2015). Earth revealing – earth healing.: Liturgical Press.
- Jaume University. (1992). Recerca, Pensament I Analisi Magazine. Barcelona.
- Van Rensselaer, P. (1988). Global Bioethics. Michigan: Michigan Estate University Press.