Human Insulin Synthesized - C&EN Global Enterprise (ACS

Nov 6, 2010 - Publication Date: January 10, 1966. Copyright © 1966 AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. ACS Chem. Eng. News Archives. First Page Image...
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their undergraduate education else­ where, the study says. More than half of the Ph.D/s in the study (59%) now work, and have worked in the past, in the nation's col­ leges and universities, the study says. However, as careers mature, there is a shift away from university employ­ ment to other categories such as Gov­ ernment and industry. The more re­ cent graduates have had less academic employment but they shift less to nonacademic jobs later in their careers. Another major finding is that the percentage of Ph.D/s who do research and the average time they spend doing it have been rising steadily for each new doctorate generation. This in­ crease has taken place primarily at the expense of teaching, the study says. The 1960 graduates on their first job (including those not in teaching) de­ voted about 50% of their time to re­ search. By contrast, the 1935 grad­ uates spent only about 35% of their time doing research at the beginning of their careers. During this period, the time devoted to teaching declined from nearly one half to about one third. However, the study finds no cause for alarm in this trend. "The pro­ portion of doctorates who do only re­ search remains relatively small, on the order of 10 to 15%. A healthy bal­ ance of research and teaching, or re­ search and administration, or all three together, is the rule," the study says. The study finds that salaries have been going up steadily. Each new generation of graduates starts at a higher level and advances more rap­ idly than earlier groups. Salary varies more by function performed on the job than by field, although there is some interaction between these factors. Administrators get the highest salaries and teachers the lowest across almost all fields and all ages of graduates, the study says. The study also shows that each new generation of doctorates has been drawn from a broader social base than its predecessor. As education has become more general, lower socio­ economic groups have produced more doctorates, although the professional segment of the population remains the largest single source of the most recent doctorates. "As awareness of higher education (and the means to attain it) becomes more general, so will aspira­ tion to graduate school and eventual attainment of the doctorate," the study says. 22 C&EN JAN. 10, 1966

Water Standards Near for Lake Michigan Industry-government group likely to adopt criteria proposed for lake and waterways The joint industry-government effort to battle serious and persistent pollu­ tion in southern Lake Michigan and the adjoining waterways of Indiana and Illinois was hailed in Chicago last week as a precedent-setting modelnot only for other Great Lakes areas with pollution problems but also for the rest of the country. In a conference called by the De­ partment of Health, Education, and Welfare to study the Lake Michigan situation, Murray Stein, HEW's chief water pollution control enforcement officer, called it a landmark case. "For the first time, federal, state, municipal, and industry representa­ tives have successfully worked to­ gether on a massive and complex prob­ lem to reach wide agreement on de­ tailed criteria for water quality," he notes. Last week's gathering, a follow-up to the March 1965 opening session of the conference, considered water qual­ ity criteria proposed by the confer­ ence's technical committee. The con­ ferees deferred action on the criteria to give industry more time to evaluate them. A decision on the criteria and on a timetable for industrial clean-up will be announced by the end of the month.

The technical committee was estab­ lished by the March conference. It consisted of representatives from HEW and Interior; from water and sanitary control agencies of Indiana, Illinois, and Chicago; and from U.S. Steel and American Oil (both have major plants in the area). The proposed water quality criteria would involve improvements in many municipal sewage plants and an esti­ mated 70 to 80% reduction in the present levels of the more objection­ able industrial waste constituents, ac­ cording to technical committee chair­ man F. W. Kfttrell of HEW. Three zones would be set up for the lake and three for the waterways. The criteria spell out dissolved oxygen, ammonia, and phenol content, bacteria count, and other quality standards for water in each zone. Just how much these quality criteria and any new cleanup timetable will eventually cost Chicago area plants for additional water treatment facili­ ties cannot be accurately pinned down. For instance, the quality cri­ teria do not readily translate into spe­ cific effluent standards for each plant. However, many area companies are already building new facilities or en­ larging old ones. Inland Steel, for in-

Human Insulin Synthesized

insulin (synthetic human A with nat­ ural bovine B) is 8%. These yields are based on the amounts of S-sulfonates of the A and Β chains used. The tests include three steps: con­ version of the S-sulfonates to the sulfhydryl forms; isolation of the chains as sulfhydryls; and oxidation. Amino acid analysis of the synthetic S-sulfonate form of the human A chain (purified by chromatography on Sephadex) after acid hydrolysis shows a composition that agrees with theoretical values. Molar ratios of amino acids for the human A chain are: asparagine (1.5); threonine (1.0); serine (1.9); glutamine (4.2); glycine (1.2); cystine (4.3); valine (0.9); isoleucine (1.7); leucine (2.0); and tyrosine (1.8). With high-voltage paper electro­ phoresis, the synthetic human A chain

Human insulin has been synthesized by biochemists at Brookhaven Na­ tional Laboratory [/. Am. Chem. Soc, 88, 164, 166 (1966)]. Dr. P. G. Katsoyannis and his co-workers at the Upton, N.Y., laboratory have synthe­ sized the A chain of the hormone (in its S-sulfonate form) and have com­ bined it with both natural bovine and synthetic human Β chains to make in­ sulin polypeptides. The combination with the synthetic Β chain may be the first synthesis of a polypeptide occur­ ring in man, they feel. The insulins show considerable bio­ logical activity. Assays (mouse-con­ vulsion method) show an over-all yield of 2% for the all-synthetic hu­ man insulin. The yield of the hybrid

Aluminum Output to Rise 8% Again in 1966

AERATION. Aeration device at American Oil's Whiting, Ind., refinery represents one of several methods used by industry in the southern Lake Michigan area to combat pollution in both the lake itself and adjoining waterways

stance, has just placed a new $9.5 mil­ lion treatment works on stream at its plant in East Chicago, Ind. Youngstown Sheet & Tube plans to spend $11 million during the next three years to improve water control facilities at its East Chicago plant. The companies testifying at the conference also told of the strenuous efforts they have been making in the past few months to upgrade house­

keeping at their plants. The Cities Service refinery in East Chicago says it has cut pollutants in its effluent by 70% or more, largely as a result of improved housekeeping. And the Union Carbide plant at Whiting, Ind., attributes most of the recent 80% re­ duction in biochemical oxygen de­ mand of its effluent to such practices. But much still needs to be done, ac­ cording to HEW.

exhibits a sharp, single Pauly-positive spot. The synthetic material has a mobility very similar to that of the natural bovine A chain. Dr. Katsoyannis and Dr. Andrew Tometsko have also developed a pro­ cedure for recombining natural bovine A and Β chains to produce insulin in 45 to 55% yield. The Brookhaven scientists expect considerably higher recombination yields with the new method than are now possible. This should permit substantial amounts of crystalline synthetic and hybrid in­ sulins to be isolated. In earlier experiments, the Brookhaven scientists made crystalline in­ sulin by combining synthetic Β chain of sheep insulin with the natural bo­ vine A chain (C&EN, Oct. 18, 1965, page 39). Biological activity of this material was 2.5%.

Even higher recombination yields

Dr. P. G. Katsoyannis

Visitors to Reynolds Metals' exhibit at this week's Society of Automotive En­ gineers Exposition in Detroit will hear that 1966 model autos will consume a record 376,250 tons of aluminum. This is 10,000 tons above the record set in the 1965 model year. Setting records is becoming a way of life for U.S. aluminum makers. Aluminum shipments in 1965 ex­ ceeded 4 million tons, up nearly 13% from 1964. Production of primary aluminum in 1965 climbed 8% above 1964 to 2.74 million tons—close to rated capacity. Aluminum industry economists say growth in 1966 should parallel that of 1965. Every major aluminum market posted major gains in 1965. Building and construction uses topped the list, accounting for a shade more than 900,000 tons (a 9% gain over 1964). The average new home now contains nearly 300 pounds of aluminum, up from only 80 pounds a decade ago. Siding and windows are pacing alu­ minum use in construction. But perhaps the most attractive market for aluminum producers is con­ tainers and packaging. Despite sharp growth in use for citrus juice, motor oil, and beer cans (C&EN, Sept. 13, 1965, page 40), aluminum had only 4% (totaling about 350,000 tons) of the total metal can market in 1965, up from 3.47c in 1964. The entire can market is exactly what aluminum mak­ ers are hopeful they can capture. Aluminum makers are working hard to ensure that they can meet the growing demand for the metal. Nearly 100,000 tons of new capacity for primary metal was added in 1965. For 1966, another 200,000 tons of ca­ pacity will be available in the U.S. Increased capacity, aluminum from the government stockpile, secondary sources, and imports should help maintain a razor-thin margin of supply over demand. Even last fall's head-on collision with the Administration over prices hasn't dampened the industry's ebul­ lience. True, a twinge of unhappiness is visible—the aluminum industry's re­ turn on equity is only about 6% (steel returns 6.8%, nonferrous metals 8.9%). But Reynolds president Joseph McConnell probably reflects the industry's mood best with the re­ minder that times, facts, and justifica­ tions change. JAN.

10, 1966

C&EN

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