Scientists Clock Protein Synthesis

Two Medical School scientists have succeeded in timing the biosynthesis of a protein for the first time, a discovery that may be important in the study of cancer.

They found that a molecule of ferritin, an iron-containing protein, is synthesized within five and a half minutes after its entry into the liver of a rat.

The span of time required for synthesis has significance in the study of cell metabolism--that process by which foodstuffs are made available for use by the body. Cell metabolism, in turn, is related to problems of cancer, uncontrolled cell growth.

Chemical time trials for the protein formation were conducted by Dr. Robert B. Loftfield '41, and his associate, Miss Elizabeth A. Eigner, in the Huntington Memorial Hospital at the Medical School.

They performed their experiments on rats fed on a low-iron diet which limited ferritin formation. The ferritin synthesis was triggered by injecting colloidal iron oxide, and its five and a half minute development traced with radioactive amino acids.