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FCG International Science and Research 2006: SANTIAGO GRISOLÍA
“In the figure of Santiago Grisolía we find the exceptional characteristics that make up a unique personality in the field of scientific research in the last century. We will mention but four of these: RESEARCH WORK: The research work developed by Dr. Grisolía in the University of Kansas promptly acquired international recognition, becoming one of the leading authorities in the analysis of the nitrogen metabolism and the effect of ammonia on the central nervous system. SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL: Having returned to Spain, the work of Profesor Grisolía was crucial in the promotion and direction of the Cytological Research Institute in Valencia, enabling it to become one of the elite institutions of Spanish science. HUMAN PROFILE: Between 1988 and 2000, Santiago Grisolía was president of the UNESCO Scientific Coordination Committee for the Human Genome Project. His endeavor to bring our country to the forefront of the scientific development of the project facilitated anticipating the future, which we must recognize, along with his commitment, now that the project has become one of the most outstanding achievements of scientific research. SCIENTIFIC PROMOTION: As well as his scientific and academic achievements, through his continuous and very important presence in institutions, committees and means of communication, Professor Grisolía has carried out a task that is very significant in the modernization, dissemination and promotion of Spanish science”,according to the jury that met in Valladolid on June 19, 2006, chaired by, Mr. José Ballesta Germán, Professor of Cellular Biology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Murcia and President of the University of Murcia between 1998 and 2006; Dr. Camilo José Cela Conde, Director of the Human Systematics Laboratory at the University of the Balearic Islands; Mr. Tomás Girbés Juan, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Valladolid; Mr. Juan Pérez Mercader, Director of the Astrobiology Center.
SANTIAGO GRISOLÍA - Biography
PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH: Valencia (Spain), 6th January 1923
UNIVERSITY DEGREE:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia (1944)
POSTGRDUATE STUDIES:
Doctorate, Faculty of Medicine, University of Madrid (1949)
CURRENT POSTS
-“Sam E. Roberts” Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center (1996-).
-Distinguished Professor, Valencian Foundation for Biomedical Research (1992-)
-Executive President of the King Jaime I Awards
-Secretary of the Valencian Foundation of Advanced Studies
-President of the Jiménez Díaz Memorial Lecture.
-President of the Valencian Culture Council (1996-)
-Member of the Board of Directors of the Arts and Sciences City of Valencia (1996-)
-President of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Prince Felipe Science Museum, at the Arts and Sciences City of Valencia (1998-)
-Vice-president of the Patronage of the Prince Felipe Research Center (1996-)
-President of the Advisory Council for the Cuenca Science Museum (1998-).
-Lifelong Patron of the Foundation of the Prince Felipe Science Museum, at the Arts and Sciences City of Valencia (2002).
-Advisor of the Ministry of Health, Ferrer Foundation, Spanish Branch of the Club of Rome, and of the Emeritus College. Member of the Patronage of the Melchor Hoyos Foundation, among many others.
PREFERENTIAL AREAS OF WORK
Nitrogen metabolism. Urea synthesis. Pyrimidine Metabolism. Enzyme formation and stability. The effect of ammonia on the central nervous system. Metabolism of phosphoglycerates.
EXPERIENCE:
-Director, Institute of Cytological Research (1976-1992)
-Director, McIlvain Laboratories and Lecturer in Medicine and Biochemistry, University of Kansas Medical Center (1954-1962)
-Director, Department of Biochemistry, University of Kansas Medical Center (1962-1973)
-Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Kansas Medical Center (1973-96)
-Assistant Professor, Department of Physiological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin (1947-1954)
-Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Chicago (1946-1947)
-Associate Researcher, University of New York (1945-1946)
-Director of the Committee of Experts for the Seville Universal Expo (1989-1992)
-Member of the International Scientific Advisory Board, UNESCO. (1996-1999)
-President of the Scientific Coordination Committee of UNESCO for the Human Genome Project (1988-2000)
-Vice-president of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation (1995-2001).
-Member of the Governing Council of the Carlos III Health Institute. (1996-2001)
-Advisor-Member of the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Foundation
- Advisor-Member of the National R+D Plan (Interministerial Commission for Science and Technology)
-President of the Advisory Council of the Menéndez y Pelayo International University in Valencia (Spain) (1998-2001)
-President of Honor of the Valencian Region’s Foundation for the Study of Violence (Queen Sofia Center for the Study of Violence). 2002
HONORS RECEIVED
-Great Cross for Agricultural Merit
-Great Civil Order Cross for Health
-Great Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X el Sabio.
-Great Cross for Civil Merit.
-Golden Medal of the University of Alicante
-Honorary Academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Valencia
-Honorary Academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Bilbao.
-Honorary Academic of the Royal Academy of Doctors.
-Honorary Academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Balearic Islands
-Member of Honor of the Academia Galileiana di Scienze Lettere ed Arti in Padova.
-Member of Honor of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium.
-Member of Honor of the College of Doctors, Rome.
-Member of Honor of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry.
-Member of Honor of the Spanish Society of Physiology.
- Member of Honor of the International Society for Enzymology.
-Collegiate of Honor of the Illustrious College of Pharmacists of Castellón (Spain)
-Member of Honor of the Valencian Society of Surgery.
- Member of Honor of the Sigma-Xi Society.
-Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universities of Salamanca, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, León, País Vasco, Sienna, Florence, Kansas, Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, the Polytechnical University of Valencia, the University of Lisbon and the University of Castilla-La Mancha.
-Academic of the Spanish Academy of the Sciences.
-Academic of the Royal Academy of the Sciences, Galicia (Spain).
-Academic of the Royal Academy of the Sciences, Cordoba (Argentina)
-Academic of the Royal Academia Academy of Pharmacists, Madrid (Spain).
-Unnumbered Academic of the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Valencia
-Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
-Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of Valencia
-Established Researched of the American Heart Association
-Cuenca Villoro Award.
-Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research.
-“Joaquín Garrigues Walker" Award from the Salvador de Madariaga Foundation
-Golden Medal of Emigration, Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs
-Extraordinary Award from the Danone Institute
PUBLICATIONS:
Up to January 2006, he had over 480 scientific publications, 8 books and over 130 articles of general affairs.
He has published over 350 articles and research works in prestigious reviews, with prominent contributions on the metabolism of proteins and carbohydrates as well as on the pyrimidine metabolism. He has discovered more than 10 enzymes and has crystallized 4. His pioneering contributions to enzyme regulation are of great importance both generally and specifically to medicine, especially the hepatic encephalopathy.
1.- Proteins. The Urea Synthesis
The urea cycle is responsible for most of the elimination of nitrogen from the protein metabolism. It is made up of 5 enzymes. From among these, he discovered and purified the following two enzymes: the mitochondrial carbamyl phosphate and the orinitine transcarbamylase (he crystallized the bacteria as well as the carbarnate kinase). - he was the first to demonstrate, with radioactive CO2, the debated intermediary role of citrulline. He discovered the essential catalytic role of the glutamate acetyl. He discovered and isolated the intermediary containing CO2, NH3 and phosphate that allowed its identification as carbamyl phosphate.
2.- Carbohydrates. Phosphoglycerate Metabolism
His studies on phosphoglycerate mutase, bisphosphoglycerate mutase and phosphatase were transcendental to understanding the phosphoglycerate cycle and the mechanism that transports oxygen through the hemoglobin: he crystallized the mutase using muscle and yeast that requires 2.3 bisphosphoglycerate. He discovered and purified the independent mutase of the aforementioned co-factor.
3.- Nucleic Acids. Degradation of the Pyrimidines.
He discovered and purified all the enzymes involved in the degradation of the pyrimidine and the possibility of a limited re-utilization of the pyrimidines, in contrast to the purines.
4.- Stability of Enzymes and Enzyme Renewal
He discovered the inactivation induced by substrate. He contributed to the knowledge of the factors of milieu implied in the change degradation of intracellular proteins.
5.- Cellular Studies
Through the use of high resolution autoradiography, he studied the synthesis and degradation of mitochondrial proteins, including the role of the polyamines in the transport of mitochondrial protein precursors. Through immunocytochemistry, he has demonstrated the homogeneity of mitochondria in one cell and the mitochondrial heterogeneity of different zones of hepatic parenchyma.
He evaluated the participation of lysosomal in the intracellular degradation of proteins.
6.- Studies of Cerebral Incidence
He has discovered that hyperammonemia increases the tubulin content in the brain owing to synthesis, as a consequence of an increase in the polymerization of microtubules because of an alteration in the phosphorylation of the proteins associated to them and as a consequence of this the toxicity and protection mechanism for hyperammonemia and encephalopathy that is the 5th cause of death, along with cirrhosis.
He is President of the Valencian Culture Council and has written many information articles, including over 120 in ABC Newspaper. His scientific trajectory is known on an international level. It is also important to highlight that he has been responsible, as the President of the UNESCO Scientific Coordination Committee for the Human Genome Project for the 10 years that the Committee existed, for awakening the interest in the Human Genome on an international level, starting out with this activity in Spain and continuing on a world level, especially in Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile and India.
Among the activities related with Valencia and which may be of media interest we can mention the following:
-Creation of the García Blanco Awards for young researchers in Biomedicine (Faculty of Medicine of Valencia), founded as a consequence of the assistance of then Councilor Garcés. These awards are now in their 27th edition.
-Creation of the Queen Sofía Center for the Study of Violence in 1996, currently directed by Professor José Sanmartín.
-Creation of the Emeritus Chair of the Valencian Region, of which the following distinguished colleagues are members: Professor Francisco Gomar, Professor Vicente López Merino, Professor José Mª López Piñero and Professor Vicente Tormo.
-In 1978, the creation of the Valencian Foundation for Advanced Studies, that has organized numerous medical symposia.
-Creation of the King Jaime I Awards in 1989, apparently including the only award on a world level dedicated to clinical medicine, with the assistance of numerous Medicine or Physiology Nobel Prize Winners.
-President of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Prince Felipe Science Museum at the Arts and Sciences City in Valencia.
-Vice-president of the Patronage of the Prince Felipe Research Center (previously the Cytological Research Institute)
-President of the Jiménez Díaz Memorial Lecture
We must also point out that he is a current or previous member of other foundations, among which we can mention the following:
Vice-president of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation between 1995 and 2001; member of the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and the “Carmen y Severo Ochoa” Foundation.
Another area of transcendental importance was the UNESCO Scientific Coordination Committee for the Human Genome Project that he presided over for 11 years. One of its undertakings was the creation of a network between the South and the North in collaboration with Third World Academia through the setting up of scholarships to send students from the so-called Third World to the best laboratories in the world. It also organized many workshops on the genome all over the world and 5 major South-North gatherings in Caxambu (Brazil), Beijing (China), New Delhi (India), Guadalajara (Mexico) and Namibia (South Africa).
Along these same lines, he coordinated the first and successive meetings on the Human Genome on an international level, between 1988 and 2001, with a total of 8 meetings