John Jacob Abel

John Jacob Abel (19 May 1857 – 26 May 1938) was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. He established the pharmacology department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1893, and then became America's first full-time professor of pharmacology. He earned his Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy) from the University of Michigan where he studied under Henry Sewall in 1883. But, during this time he took several years off to serve as a principal of the high school in La Porte, Indiana. There he taught many subjects ranging from chemistry and physics to Latin. He then went to Johns Hopkins University, where he studied under Henry Newell Martin, a cardiac physiologist and professor of biology. He then left for Europe, starting in Leipzig studying medical sciences, then traveling to Strasbourg where he was about to receive his Ph.D., but instead decided to receive an M.D. in 1888 from the University of Strasbourg.

After his doctorate, Abel worked mostly in clinical studies and took clinical courses, focusing on biochemistry and pharmacology. He traveled around Europe, mostly in Germany and central Europe, conducting research in biochemistry. He only was at the University of Michigan until 1893, when William Osler of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine asked Abel to come to the school and accept a Professorship of Pharmacology.

Devising early form of dialysis machine Together with L.G. Rowntree and B.B. Turner, Abel devised what they called a "vividiffusion" apparatus, consisting of a series of tubes surrounded by fluid. They first demonstrated the apparatus at the Physiological Congress in Groningen in 1914. The vividiffusion apparatus Abel devised is the precursor to the modern day dialysis machine. He summarized his work in a paper published in 1913, "On the Removal of Diffusable Substances from the Circulating Blood by Means of Dialysis" by Transfusion Science.

Crystallization of insulin

Abel's work on insulin started with an invitation from his old friend Arthur A. Noyes at California Institute of Technology. Noyes had just received a grant from the Carnegie Corporation for research on insulin, and he thought that Abel would be the right person to lead that research. After some preliminary experiments on the subject, Abel decided to take on the research, and replied to his friend, "Will attack insulin. Writing. J. J. Abel." Abel invested the next few years on purifying insulin. While he was trying various means to purify insulin, he had the idea to measure sulfur content of his extracts and found that the higher the sulfur content, the greater the activity. The discovery not only significantly precipitated progress on extracting active fractions but also offered the very first concrete information on the structure of insulin—sulfur is an integral part of insulin molecules. Although Abel's work received great compliments from the media and the science community, some doubted the purity of his crystals as preliminary tests revealed that they were in fact proteins. At the time, Abel's laboratory was no doubt the center of insulin research in the United States. A lot of young scientists came to his lab and worked under Abel to study the newly crystallized hormone. Abel himself gradually withdrew from the actual experimental work on insulin after the first four years, but he continued to guide the scientists in his lab to unravel more and more about the structure of insulin molecule. Abel JJ, Rowntree LG, Turner BB. On the removal of diffusable substances from the circulating blood by means of dialysis. Transactions of the Association of American Physicians, 1913. Transfusion Science. 11: 164-5. Abel JJ. Crystalline Insulin. 1926. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 12 (2): 132-136. Abel JJ. Experimental and Chemical Studies of the Blood with an Appeal for more Extended Chemical Training for the Biological and Medical Investigator. II. Science. 1915. Science. 42: 165-178.

Degrees, awards, honors

Degrees

Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy) from University of Michigan, 1883 M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) from University of Strassburg, 1888

Honorary degrees

M.A. (Master of Arts) from University of Michigan, 1903 Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) from University of Michigan, 1912 Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) from University of Pittsburgh, 1915 LL.D. (Doctor of Law) from University of Cambridge, 1920 Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) from Harvard University, 1925 Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) from Yale University, 1927 M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) from University of Lviv, Poland, 1927 LL.D. (Doctor of Law) from University of Aberdeen, 1932 Elected Member of the American Philosophical Society, 1857

Private life Abel married Mary Hinman in 1883. They met while he was a principal and she was a school teacher in La Porte, Indiana. They had three children, one of whom was a daughter who died as an infant in 1888 in Strasbourg. The other two, George H. Abel and Robert Abel of Philadelphia and Boston, respectively, survived into adulthood. Mary Abel and John Abel both passed in 1938; Mary in January and John in May due to a coronary thrombosis.