The biochemist, Arthur Kornberg, whose career is described as “a love affair with enzymes” graduated as the class of 1937 from City College, in Harlem, New York. He became the first person to win the Nobel Prize affiliated with City College and the entire CUNY system in 1959 in Physiology or Medicine. Kornberg’s research specialized in Biochemistry, more specifically deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis and enzyme chemistry, and went on to make prominent discoveries for the scientific research history books.

Arthur Kornberg is a Brooklyn native who went to City College for his undergraduate degree in science and Doctor of Medicine at the University of Rochester in 1941. He later joined the armed forces as a ship’s doctor in the Navy in 1942. Then he took on a research scientist role at the National Institutes of Health, NIH, where his interest in enzyme research sparked. Kornberg trained in enzymology with two professors, Ochoa and and Cori, at New York University School of Medicine and Washington University School respectively. With this experience and new understanding, Kornberg directed the Enzyme section at NIH. After 11 years, he resigned in 1953 to become the chairperson of the Department of Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine. During his time here, Kornberg experimented with the enzymes that created DNA which eventually led him to isolate the first DNA polymerase. By 1959, Kornberg led the Department of Biochemistry of the Stanford University School of Medicine to become a professor. Ever since, Kornberg has served as chairman and member of advisory boards for numerous committees, councils, universities, and research institutes. (Kornberg, 2005)

During Kornberg’s time at the National Institutes of Health, he and his colleagues were able to isolate the enzyme responsible for assembling DNA, DNA Polymerase. This enzyme was also discovered to be essential for replication, sequencing, and all different types of recombinant DNA techniques. He identified DNA Polymerase by honing down what molecule synthesized nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to make up this hereditary molecule. Leading up to this discovery, Kornberg and his colleagues experimented to successfully synthesize the five nucleotides that exist in DNA and RNA: adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine, and uracil. From this, he wanted to find the enzyme that grouped these nucleotides to form DNA and RNA. He used E. Coli bacteria, DNA primers, nucleotides, and additional ATP to detect an enzyme at work building DNA. After a year he was successful and was able to extract the enzyme responsible for synthesizing DNA and formed the revolutionary paper by 1957 that was officially published in 1958. This discovery would lead to decades of more research uncovering the full chemistry behind DNA replication. (Genome.gov, 2013)

All types of research introduce new ideas and experiments to elaborate on findings. Kornberg’s research was done at the peak of DNA knowledge expansion as Watson and Crick were just publishing their findings on the redefined helix shape of the DNA molecule. (History.com, 2009) Because of essential papers like theirs, it advanced the knowledge we had of biology tremendously. Kornberg’s research has resulted in him publishing over 300 papers that have been reviewed by thousands of scientists to this day. Kornberg set the foundation for recombinant DNA technology and gene editing, which is ongoing to this day. He’s been put down in science history books as he’s been able to not only decipher the workings of enzymes in our bodies but also extend his research to inorganic polyphosphate. (NIH, 2009) One of Kornberg’s published papers, The deoxyribonucleic acid unwinding protein of Escherichia coli. properties and functions in replication are filled with abundant results and discoveries. I find this inspiring because this research was such a big step in biology at the time. “Furthermore, the influence of DNA secondary structure on unwinding protein binding suggests possibilities for its function in other DNA processes, such as repair, recombination, and genetic exchange.” This conclusion was brought up after combining all the components to synthesize DNA and catching the DNA polymerase in action, is incredible to explain multiple functions of DNA that were known. 

Arthur Kornberg’s scientific findings and contributions have not gone unnoticed. He’s impacted and shaped biology as we know it today. His passion for enzymes was truly inspiring as you witness him expand the knowledge we previously knew about this protein and revolutionize its purposes and functions. Starting his research career at City College has enabled him to go far and do good for the science world that had rightfully granted him the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1959.

1955: DNA copying enzyme. Genome.gov. (2013). https://www.genome.gov/25520256/online-education-kit-1955-dna-copying-enzyme 

A&E Television Networks. (2009, November 24). Chemical structure of DNA discovered. History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/watson-and-crick-discover-chemical-structure-of-dna 

Kornberg A. (2005) Arthur Kornberg Biographical The nobel prize in physiology or medicine 1959. NobelPrize.org. (n.d.). https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1959/kornberg/biographical/ 

National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). The synthesis of DNA, 1953-1959 | Arthur Kornberg – profiles in Science. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/wh/feature/synthesis Weiner, J., Bertsch, L., & Kornberg, A. (1975). The deoxyribonucleic acid unwinding protein of escherichia coli. properties and functions in replication. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 250(6), 1972–1980. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9258(19)41671-2