Stanley Cohen
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Stanley Cohen
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986
Born: 17 November 1922, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Died: 5 February 2020, Nashville, TN, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
Prize motivation: “for their discoveries of growth factors”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
Human beings develop from a single cell that divides to form new cells. These new cells then also further divide and multiply. Little by little, different types of cells with different functions are formed. After Rita Levi Montalcini discovered a substance that promotes growth of the nervous system, in the mid-1950s Stanley Cohen discovered another growth factor that promotes growth of cells in the skin and cornea. The discovery of what are now known as growth factors has provided a deeper understanding of medical problems like deformities, senile dementia, delayed wound healing, and tumor diseases.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
