Professor Henrik Dam, University of Copenhagen. 1943 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology and Medicine. Foto: Henrik Dam. Photo Bilder I Syd
Vitamin K and its role in blood coagulation
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1943 was divided equally between Henrik Carl Peter Dam , Denmark, “for his discovery of vitamin K” and Edward Doisy , USA, “for his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K.”
Vitamin K is a vitamin which is probably best known for its role in the coagulation (clotting) of blood. However, vitamin K also serves other important functions in the body.
Professor Henrik Dam. “The discovery of vitamin K arose from some studies on the cholesterol metabolism of chicks carried out during the years 1928-1930 in the Biochemical Institute of the University of Copenhagen.”
Professor Edward Doisy, St. Louis University. Based on Henrik Dam’s revelation that a substance he called vitamin K was needed for blood to coagulate, in 1939 Edward Doisy succeeded in producing two variants of vitamin K in pure form, allowing him to determine its structure and to produce it by artificial means. This became especially important in treating bleeding among small children.
Source and more info: nobelprize.org
