Julius Axelrod

Biography

Julius Axelrod was born on May 30, 1912, in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Poland. He attended Seward Park High School and then City College of New York, where he got a Bachelor of Science degree in 1933. Despite being academically gifted, Axelrod faced multiple rejections from medical schools, which led him down an unconventional path in his scientific career. He started as a lab technician at New York University's Laboratory of Industrial Hygiene, where he gained practical chemical experience that would later become crucial for his research approach.

Axelrod's formal progress in science came later in his life. He spent two decades in different lab and government roles before earning his PhD in pharmacology from George Washington University Medical School in 1955, when he was 43. He did his doctoral research with Bernard Brodie at the National Heart Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Axelrod spent most of his career at the NIH, eventually leading the Section on Pharmacology in the Laboratory of Clinical Science at the National Institute of Mental Health.

His most notable scientific achievements focused on catecholamine neurotransmitters like epinephrine and norepinephrine, exploring how they're released, interact with cells, and are cleared from the synapse. Axelrod discovered the reuptake process, where nerve terminals recapture neurotransmitters after release, significantly impacting the understanding of nervous system regulation. He also identified the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), essential for breaking down these neurotransmitters, paving the way for many psychiatric and cardiovascular medications.

In 1970, Axelrod was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler for his research on neurotransmitter release and inactivation. The Nobel Committee highlighted his work on catecholamines' storage, release, and reuptake mechanisms. Axelrod also explored the pineal gland, shedding light on melatonin production and its relation to light and dark cycles, connecting the gland to circadian rhythm regulation.

Throughout his career, Axelrod received numerous honors, including the Canada Gairdner International Award in 1967, the Schmiedeberg Badge in 1978, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society election in 1979, an honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-XI in 1982, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research in 1989, the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in 1992, and a fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He continued to work at the NIH well into his later years and passed away in Bethesda, Maryland, on December 29, 2004, at 92.