Some of Axelrod's later research focused on the pineal gland. He and his colleagues showed that the hormone melatonin is generated from tryptophan, as is the neurotransmitter serotonin. The rates of synthesis and release follows the body's circadian rhythm driven by the suprachiasmatic nucleus within the hypothalamus. Axelrod and colleagues went on to show that melatonin had wide-ranging effects throughout the central nervous system, allowing the pineal gland to function as a biological clock. He continued to work at the National Institute of Mental Health at the NIH until his death in 2004.

[

Political views

After receiving the Nobel Prize in 1970, Axelrod used his visibility to advocate several science policy issues. In 1973 U.S. President Richard Nixon created an agency with the specific goal of curing cancer. Axelrod, along with fellow Nobel-laurates Marshall W. Nirenberg and Christian Anfinsen, organized a petition by scientists opposed to the new agency, on the grounds that by focusing solely on cancer, public funding would not be available for research into other, more solvable, medical problems. Axelrod also lent his name to several protests against the imprisonment of scientists in the Soviet Union. Dr. Axelrod was a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Federation of American Scientists and the International Academy of Science.

[

References

• U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Profiles in Science: The Julius Axelrod Papers."
• Snyder, Solomon H (2007), “Julius Axelrod.”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 151 (1): 81-90, 2007 Mar, PMID:18175546, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18175546> 
• “Special issue in honor of Julius Axelrod.”, Cell. Mol. Neurobiol. 26 (4-6): 4 p preceding 343, 343-1055, PMID:16758321, doi:10.1007/s10571-006-9074-4, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16758321> 
• “Julius Axelrod (1912-2004).”, Indian J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 49 (2): 251-2, 2005, 2005 Apr, PMID:16247945, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16247945> 
• Coyle, J T (2005), “Julius Axelrod (1912-2004).”, Mol. Psychiatry 10 (3): 225-6, 2005 Mar, PMID:15738927, doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001650, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15738927> 
• Snyder, Solomon H (2005), “Obituary: Julius Axelrod (1912-2004).”, Nature 433 (7026): 593, 2005 Feb 10, PMID:15703735, doi:10.1038/433593a, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15703735> 
• Pincock, Stephen, “Julius Axelrod.”, Lancet 365 (9457): 380, PMID:15688459, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)17814-3, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15688459> 
• Raju, T N (1999), “The Nobel chronicles. 1970: Bernard Katz (b 1911), Ulf Svante von Euler (1905-1983), and Julius Axelrod (b 1912).”, Lancet 354 (9181): 873, 1999 Sep 4, PMID:10485764, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10485764> 
• Shafrir, E (1994), “Julius Axelrod, Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler--Nobel Prize winners for the discovery of mechanisms of nerve signal transmission.”, Isr. J. Med. Sci. 30 (11): 869, 1994 Nov, PMID:7982784, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7982784> 
• Shampo, M A & Kyle, R A (1994), “Julius Axelrod--American biochemist and Nobel Prize winner.”, Mayo Clin. Proc. 69 (2): 136, 1994 Feb, PMID:8309264, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8309264> 
• Iversen, L (1992), “Remembrance: Leslie L. Iversen, Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, Neuroscience Research Centre, Harlow, England. "The Axelrod Lab, 1964-1965".”, Endocrinology 131 (1): 4, 1992 Jul, PMID:1612020, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1612020> 
• “Special issue: Tribute to Julius Axelrod on the occasion of his 75th birthday.”, Cell. Mol. Neurobiol. 8 (1): 1-138, 1988, 1988 Mar, PMID:3042140, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3042140> 
• “Neurophysiologists honored (Ulf von Euler, Julius Axelrod, Bernard Katz).”, Nature 228 (5269): 304, 1970, 1970 Oct 24, PMID:4319740, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4319740> 
• Udenfriend, S (1970), “Nobel prize: 3 share 1970 award for medical research. 1. Von Euler and Axelrod.”, Science 170 (956): 422-3, 1970 Oct 23, PMID:4394111, <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4394111> 

[

External links

• Nobel Prize Biography
• NIH Profiles in Science
• Obituary at washingtonpost.com
• Kanigel, Robert, "Apprentice to Genius" ISBN 0801847575.
• Sabbatini, R.M.E.: Neurons and synapses. The history of its discovery IV. Chemical transmission. Brain & Mind, 2004.

v • d • e Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine Max Theiler (1951) · Selman Waksman (1952) · Hans Krebs / Fritz Lipmann (1953) · John Enders / Thomas Weller / Frederick Robbins (1954) · Hugo Theorell (1955) · André Cournand / Werner Forssmann / Dickinson W. Richards (1956) · Daniel Bovet (1957) · George Beadle / Edward Tatum / Joshua Lederberg (1958) · Severo Ochoa / Arthur Kornberg (1959) · Frank Burnet / Peter Medawar (1960) · Georg von Békésy (1961) · Francis Crick / James D. Watson / Maurice Wilkins (1962) · John Eccles / Alan Hodgkin / Andrew Huxley (1963) · Konrad Bloch / Feodor Lynen (1964) · François Jacob / André Lwoff / Jacques Monod (1965) · Francis Rous / Charles B. Huggins (1966) · Ragnar Granit / Haldan Hartline / George Wald (1967) · Robert W. Holley / Har Khorana / Marshall Nirenberg (1968) · Max Delbrück / Alfred Hershey / Salvador Luria (1969) · Bernard Katz / Ulf von Euler / Julius Axelrod (1970) · Earl Sutherland Jr. (1971) · Gerald Edelman / Rodney Porter (1972) · Karl von Frisch / Konrad Lorenz / Nikolaas Tinbergen (1973) · Albert Claude / Christian de Duve / George Palade (1974) · David Baltimore / Renato Dulbecco / Howard Temin (1975) Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

BCUZ.com FACTS Encyclopedia content is licensed under the GFDL as approved by Wikipedia.
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy. © 1996 - BCUZ.COM - We have all the FACTS you need about Small Business Financing, Behavior Disorder, Having Too Many Bills, Needing Cash Fast, Structured Settlements, Frequent Flier Programs, Top Steak Houses, The Mayan Indians, Norfolk and Suffolk England, Growing Longer Hair and a full reference English Encyclopedia and Spanish Encyclopedia.Privacy Policy