Marjorie G. Horning

Marjorie Janice Groothuis Horning (August 23, 1917 – June 11, 2020) was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. She was considered to be a pioneer of chromatography for her work in developing new techniques and applying them to the study of drug metabolism. She demonstrated that drugs and their metabolites can be transferred from a pregnant woman to her developing child, and later through breast milk, from a mother to a baby. Horning's work made possible the prevention of birth defects, as doctors began to warn of the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and smoking during pregnancy.

Early life and education Marjorie Janice Groothuis was born in August 1917 in Detroit, Michigan, to Nina Jane Potter and Herman Groothuis. She studied at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1938. She then attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a Master of Science in 1940 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1943.

She worked as a research assistant in the pediatrics department of the University of Michigan Hospital until 1945.

Career Horning moved with her husband to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1945, working there until 1951.

In 1961, the couple moved to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Marjorie became an associate research professor at the Lipid Research Center at Baylor. She became a full professor of biochemistry at the Institute for Lipid Research at Baylor College in 1969.

In 1973, Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization (APCI) first reported using a 63Ni foil and corona discharge by Evan and Marjorie Horning of Baylor College of Medicine.

In 1974, Corona discharge at atmospheric pressure. DLI with effluent introduced directly from an LC column with APCI using 63Ni foil/corona discharge source, reported by Evan and Marjorie Horning, Baylor College of Medicine.

In 1981, she became an adjunct professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Houston, held concurrently with her position at Baylor. She was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They developed revolutionary techniques to study the metabolism of drugs and track breakdown products of drugs as they transform and travel throughout the body. Marjorie helped to develop new methods of chromatographic analysis for the study of drug metabolism, including procedures for metabolic profiling and for the study of adrenocortical steroids.

Horning investigated the metabolism of drugs and their metabolites in humans, with particular attention to prenatal transmission between a pregnant woman and an embryo or fetus. Her work showed that drugs and their degradation products travel between mother and child and can affect the unborn child. and worked with the National Toxicology Program, established in 1978 to identify toxic chemicals. Over 48,000 chemicals were used in the United States at the time, many in food additives, medicinal products, or household products. Tswett Chromatography Medal, International Symposium on Advances in Chromatography 1987 National Honorary Member of Iota Sigma Pi (National Honor Society for Women in Chemistry), 1985 Alumnae Athena award, University of Michigan, 1980 Garvan-Olin Medal, American Chemical Society, 1977 Honorary doctorate, Goucher College, 1977 in 1988, and later a Life Trustee in 2000.

The Hornings traveled widely for scientific conferences and collected art on many of these trips. Along with their friends Virginia and Ira Jackson, they provided early leadership of the Prints and Drawings Department at the MFAH, and Marjorie and Evan later donated their entire collection of over 300 Old Master and Modern prints and drawings to the Museum. Asian Art was another focus of their collecting, especially important Japanese woodblock prints. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Hornings had yearly residences in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, and collected decorative arts that later transformed the Museum's Scandinavian design collection. Ever thoughtful philanthropists, the Hornings also established generous endowments to support these core collecting interests.