description Edmond Fischer Overview
Edmond Fischer was a Swiss-American biochemist who spent most of his career at the University of Washington conducting foundational research in cellular biology. In collaboration with Edwin Krebs, he co-discovered reversible protein phosphorylation, a crucial cellular process where enzymes known as kinases attach phosphate groups to proteins to alter their function. This reversible mechanism became recognized as a universal switch that governs how cells respond to environmental signals and manage vital biological pathways. The duo shared the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this finding.
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Edmond Fischer ranks #45 of 150 in the Physician ranking, behind Harold Varmus, ahead of Alfred Blalock.
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What did Edmond Fischer and Edwin Krebs co-discover?
In the 1950s at the University of Washington, Fischer and Krebs discovered reversible protein phosphorylation—the process by which enzymes called kinases attach phosphate groups to other proteins to switch their activity on or off, and phosphatases remove them. Their initial work focused on how the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase is activated to break down stored glycogen for energy.
What Nobel Prize did Edmond Fischer win and in what year?
Fischer shared the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with his longtime collaborator Edwin Krebs. They were recognized for their discovery of reversible protein phosphorylation as a universal biological regulatory mechanism.
How common is protein phosphorylation in cellular biology?
What Fischer and Krebs initially found in one enzyme turned out to be one of the most widespread regulatory mechanisms in all of biology. It is now estimated that at least one-third, and possibly more, of all human proteins are subject to reversible phosphorylation, and many diseases, including cancer and diabetes, involve defects in this process.
What is Edmond Fischer's background before his work at the University of Washington?
Fischer was born in Shanghai, China, and was Swiss by nationality before becoming an American citizen. He completed his PhD in chemistry at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, where he studied under Kurt Meyer, before moving to Caltech as a postdoctoral fellow and eventually joining the University of Washington in Seattle in the early 1950s.
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