Contents
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Discovering nerve growth factor, a signal that supports nerve cells.
Nerve growth factor · Nobel Prize
- Born
- 22 April 1909
- Birthplace
- Turin, Italy
- Died
- 30 December 2012
More people
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurobiologist who shared the 1986 medicine Nobel Prize with Stanley Cohen.
Early life
Turin
Grew up with a twin sister, Paola, who became an artist.
Medicine
Graduated from medical school in Turin in 1936.
Career
- 1938–1945
Work under persecution
After anti-Jewish laws barred her academic career, continued experiments in a home laboratory.
- 1947
St. Louis
Joined Viktor Hamburger’s laboratory at Washington University.
- 1960s onward
Italy and America
Led research in Rome alongside her American laboratory work.
Contributions
Nerve growth factor
Identified a substance that promotes nerve-cell growth.
Nobel Prize
Shared recognition for discoveries of growth factors.
European Brain Research Institute
Founded a research institute in Rome.
Beyond the lab
War service
Treated patients in Florence after the city’s liberation.
Public office
Appointed a senator for life in Italy in 2001.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Institutional biography and research ↗Autobiographical account ↗Photo: Kurt Hagblom , Firma Hagblom-Foto, restored by Adam Cuerden. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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