Gerty Cori

Czech American biochemist

• Born: August 15, 1896; Prague, Austria-Hungary (now Prague, Czech Republic)
• Died: October 26, 1957; St. Louis, Missouri

Biochemist Gerty Cori and her husband, Carl Cori, shared the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the eponymous Cori cycle, the catalytic conversion of glycogen in the body.

Also known as: Gerty Theresa Radnitz

Primary field: Biology

Specialties: Biochemistry; physiology

Early Life

Gerty Cori was born Gerty Theresa Radnitz on August 15, 1896, to Martha Neustadt Radnitz and Otto Radnitz, the manager of a sugar refinery in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The eldest of three sisters, Cori received her primary education at home until the age of ten. She then enrolled at a private secondary school for girls that concentrated more on socialization than academics.

On the advice of her uncle, a professor of pediatrics, Cori decided to apply to medical school. To do so, she had to become proficient in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and Latin. In 1914, after completing all of these prerequisites at Prague’s Tetschen Realgymnasium, she was accepted at the German University of Prague. She was one of only a few women at the school.

While at the university, Cori formed a relationship with Carl Ferdinand Cori, a fellow student. Both were interested in medical research rather than medical practice. The first joint paper they published was on their research into protein in human blood plasma. During World War I, Carl had to leave school to serve in the Austrian military. He returned to the university after the war to finish his degree. Both Gerty Cori and Carl Cori received doctorates in medicine in 1920. After graduation, Gerty Cori, who was raised Jewish, converted to Roman Catholicism. They moved to Vienna, Austria, and in August of that year they were married.

Life’s Work

In Vienna, Cori worked as a researcher at the Karolinen Kinderspital (Carolinen Children’s Hospital). Carl Cori carried out research at the University of Vienna’s Pharmacological Institute. Times were difficult in Europe after the war, but doctors were provided with dietary supplements to maintain their health. Cori refused the supplements so that they could benefit patients. As a result, she developed xerophthalmia, a vitamin A deficiency, and returned to Prague to restore her health.

In early 1922, Carl Cori accepted a biochemistry position at the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Diseases (now the Roswell Park Memorial Institute) in Buffalo, New York. Gerty Cori joined him there, becoming an assistant pathologist and later an assistant biochemist. At the institute, the Coris initially conducted research into the causes of cancer. This research, in part, led to what would become the main focus of their careers: carbohydrate chemistry. Cori’s father had also been diagnosed with diabetes, which was then fatal, and Cori was more interested in sugars and the recently discovered insulin hormone than in tumors.

While in New York, the Coris began to study energy production in the human body, primarily how glucose metabolizes (turns into energy). At first, their research focused on how the hormones insulin and epinephrine functioned in the metabolism of glucose. They then studied the effects of sugars and carbohydrates on tumors in full-grown animals before refining their studies to specific tissue groups, and finally tissue samples and enzymes. Eventually, Cori’s research would remain focused on blood sugar and energy cycles.

The Coris became American citizens in 1928. The following year, they proposed a theory that later became known as the Cori cycle, or lactic acid cycle. The theory explains that the movement of energy begins in the muscles, when the body tells the muscles that it needs energy. The glycogen that is already present in the muscles is converted into glucose, which is in turn burned by the rest of the body during physical activity. Some of the glucose is not burned and remains in the muscles as lactic acid so that it can be used later. The lactic acid is sent to the liver, where it is converted back into glycogen, which is subsequently sent back into the muscles, where it is stored until it is needed again.

In 1931, the Coris left New York for St. Louis, Missouri, to continue their work at the Washington University School of Medicine. Due to the discovery of the Cori cycle, Carl Cori had received several job offers at other universities, but none of the schools were willing to hire his wife. The Coris would not accept any offers of employment unless they were both offered positions.

While Carl Cori was appointed chair of the pharmacology department at Washington University, Gerty Cori was only offered a position as a research assistant. She acted as her husband’s research associate for several years in St. Louis, but he always considered her his equal. Cori gave birth to the couple’s only child, Carl Thomas Cori, in 1936.

During and after her pregnancy, Cori isolated a compound called glucose-1 phosphate, now known as the Cori ester, further explaining the mechanisms of the Cori cycle. The Cori ester, which is also sometimes called phosphorylase, is an enzyme responsible for the Cori cycle. Cori also studied the blood sugar of rats and found that a reduction in the amount of complex carbohydrates in the body resulted in the simple carbohydrates’ oxidation. She discovered that this deficiency, which interfered with the work of the pituitary gland, could be counteracted by introducing insulin, similar to the popular diabetes treatment.

Carl and Gerty Cori received a number of awards and honorary doctorates for their research, both jointly and separately. The largest of these was the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which they shared for their discovery of the Cori cycle. Cori was the third woman, and the first American woman, to receive the Nobel Prize. She was promoted to professor of biochemistry at Washington University in 1947 as well, when her husband was made the head of the department.

That same year, Cori was diagnosed with myelofibrosis (or myelosclerosis), an incurable bone marrow disease. Nevertheless, she continued to teach and conduct research. In 1951, Cori codiscovered amylo-1, 6-glucosidase, an enzyme that explained the chemical structure of glycogen. In 1955, she published her studies regarding glycogen heredity and the starch’s relationship to congenital disorders. Ten years after her diagnosis, Cori died on October 26, 1957.

Impact

As was the case throughout Cori’s career, she and her husband collaborated on the majority of their research, and Cori wrote or cowrote with her husband dozens of papers. They received equal credit in their collaborations, even though female researchers and scientists at that time typically received less credit than their male counterparts. Cori, like other female scientists, had to work especially hard to prove herself in a male-dominated field.

Though she was not always treated as an equal by her colleagues, Cori’s research on energy conversion in the body was instrumental in furthering scientists’ understanding of the mechanisms of the human body. The Coris’ dedication to the study of metabolism in the human body opened a new area of medical research: carbohydrate chemistry, or how the body uses, stores, and converts energy. The biochemical techniques the Coris developed for the purification and analysis of the enzymes involved in energy conversion were adapted by later scientists studying metabolic processes.

In particular, the Coris’ identification of the primary enzymes involved in the metabolism of sugar resulted in an understanding of what causes diabetes—a disruption in the Cori cycle. This understanding led to the development of groundbreaking treatments for the disease.

Bibliography

Cori, Carl F. “The Call of Science.” Annual Review of Biochemistry 38 (1969): 1–21. Print. Autobiography of the author. Cori describes his life in science and the research that led to receiving the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries. Secaucus, NJ: Carol, 1993. Print. Includes a biography of Gerty Cori and her professional and personal collaboration with her husband, Carl Cori. Emphasizes the Coris’ contributions in biochemistry.

Salway, J. G. Medical Biochemistry at a Glance. 3rd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print. Covers the relevance of biochemistry to clinical medicine. Summarizes metabolic pathways, including the Cori cycle and its regulation. Illustrations, index.

Worek, Michael, ed. Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners. Ontario: Firefly, 2008. Print. Profiles and presents photographs of two hundred Nobel Prize winners, including Carl and Gerty Cori. Includes illustrations to help explain scientific concepts.