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The Beginnings of an Endocrinologist

During my graduate studies I never had courses in endocrinology and pharmacology. Expressions such as "dose-response," "desensitization," "agonist/antagonist," in fact, all expressions relating to physiology were alien to my ears. I was a biochemist bred to believe in the reductionist philosophy of science, still much in vogue today. Grind, extract, purify, and reconstruct were the keys words in my lexicon. Nature, in all its mystery, was at my feet waiting to be dismembered into its constitutive parts and, as with any organic chemistry problem, reassembled as proof of one’s unerring biochemical skills. That philosophy for me was dramatically altered several years later when I attempted to investigate whether fat cells were the source of lipoprotein lipase present in adipose tissue. I discovered that fat cells, which float because of their fat content, could be isolated from other cells by treatment with commercial preparations of collagenase (1). The fat cells contained lipoprotein lipase.

Footnotes

"Remembrance" articles discuss people and events as remembered by the author. The opinion(s) expressed are solely those of the writer and do not reflect the view of the Journal or The Endocrine Society.

Received May 22, 1991.