Gerty Theresa Cori (née Radnitz; August 15, 1896 – October 26, 1957) was a Czech and American biochemist who in 1947 was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for her role in the "discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen".
Cori was born in Prague, the capital of Bohemia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Growing up at a time when women were marginalized and allowed few educational opportunities, she gained admittance to medical school, where she met her future husband Carl Ferdinand Cori in an anatomy class. Upon their graduation in 1920, they married. Because of deteriorating conditions in Europe, the couple emigrated to the United States in 1922. Gerty Cori continued her early interest in medical research, collaborating in the laboratory with Carl. She published research coauthored with her husband, as well as publishing singly. Unlike her husband, she had difficulty securing research positions, and the ones she obtained provided meager pay. Her husband insisted on continuing their collaboration, though he was discouraged from doing so by the institutions that employed him.
Together with her husband Carl and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, Gerty Cori received the Nobel Prize in 1947 for the discovery of the mechanism by which glycogen—a polysaccharide made from glucose—is broken down in muscle tissue into lactic acid and then resynthesized in the body and stored as a source of energy (known as the Cori cycle). They also identified the important catalyzing compound, the Cori ester. The Coris were the third ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize. In 2004, both Gerty and Carl Cori were designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark in recognition of their work in clarifying carbohydrate metabolism.
In 1957, Gerty Cori died after a ten-year struggle with myelosclerosis. She remained active in the research laboratory until the end of her life. She received recognition for her achievements through multiple awards and honors.
Gerty Cori was born Gerty Theresa Radnitz into a Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (modern Czech Republic) in 1896. Her father, Otto Radnitz, was a chemist who became manager of sugar refineries after inventing a successful method for refining sugar. Her mother, Martha, a friend of Franz Kafka, was a culturally sophisticated woman. Gerty was tutored at home before enrolling in a lyceum for girls, and at the age of 16, she decided she wanted to be a medical doctor. Pursuing the study of science, Gerty learned that she lacked the prerequisites in Latin, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Over the course of a year, she managed to study the equivalent of eight years of Latin, five years of science, and five years of mathematics.
Her uncle, a professor of pediatrics, encouraged her to attend medical school, so she studied for and passed the university entrance examination. She was admitted to the medical school of the Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague in 1914, an unusual achievement for women at that time.
While studying, she met Carl Cori, who was immediately attracted to her charm, vitality, sense of humor, and her love of the outdoors and mountain climbing. Gerty and Carl had both entered medical school at 18 and both graduated in 1920. They married that same year. Gerty converted to Catholic Christianity, enabling her and Carl to marry in the Catholic Church. They moved to Vienna, capital of Austria, where Gerty spent the next two years at the Carolinen Children's Hospital, and her husband worked in a laboratory. While at the hospital, Gerty Cori worked on the pediatrics unit and conducted experiments in temperature regulation, comparing temperatures before and after thyroid treatment, and published papers on blood disorders.
Carl was drafted into the Austrian army and served during World War I. Life was difficult after the war, and Gerty developed dry eye caused by severe malnutrition due to food shortages. These problems, in conjunction with the increasing anti-Semitism, contributed to the Coris' decision to leave Europe.
Immigration to the United States
In 1922, the Coris both immigrated to the United States (Gerty six months after Carl because of difficulty in obtaining a position) to pursue medical research at New York State Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease (1912-1945), later the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York. In 1928, they became naturalized citizens. The director of the institute threatened to dismiss Gerty if she did not cease collaborative research with her husband. She continued to work with Carl and was nevertheless kept on at the institute.
Although the Coris were discouraged from working together at Roswell, they continued, specializing in investigating carbohydrate metabolism. They were particularly interested in how glucose is metabolized in the human body and the hormones that regulate this process. They published fifty papers while at Roswell. The lead author of each paper was the one who had done the most research. Gerty Cori published eleven articles as the sole author. In 1929, they proposed the theoretical cycle that later won them the Nobel Prize, the Cori cycle. The cycle describes how the human body uses chemical reactions to break some carbohydrates such as glycogen in muscle tissue into lactic acid, while synthesizing others.
The Coris left Roswell in 1931 after publishing their work on carbohydrate metabolism. Several universities offered Carl a position but refused to hire Gerty. Gerty was informed during one university interview that it was considered "un-American" for a married couple to work together. Carl refused a position at the University at Buffalo because the school would not allow him to work with his wife.
In 1931, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri, when Washington University offered positions to both Carl and Gerty, although Gerty's rank and salary were much lower than her husband's. Despite her research experience, Gerty was only offered a position as a research associate at a salary one tenth of that received by her husband; she was warned that she might impede her husband's career. Washington University's Chancellor, Arthur Compton, made a special allowance for Gerty to hold a position there, ignoring the university's nepotism rules. Gerty waited thirteen years before she attained the same rank as her husband. In 1943, she was appointed associate professor of Research Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology. Months before she won the Nobel Prize, she was promoted to full professor, a post she held until her death in 1957.
While working at Washington University, they discovered an intermediate compound in frog muscles that enabled the breakdown of glycogen, called glucose 1-phosphate, later known as the Cori ester. They established the compound's structure, identified the enzyme phosphorylase that catalyzed its chemical formation, and deduced that the Cori ester is the beginning step in the conversion of the carbohydrate glycogen into glucose (breaking down energy stores into a form that can be used). It can also be the last step in the conversion of blood glucose to glycogen, as it is reversible. Gerty Cori also studied glycogen storage disease, identifying at least four forms, each related to a particular enzymatic defect. She was the first to show that a defect in an enzyme can cause a human genetic disease.
Gerty and Carl Cori collaborated on most of their work, including that which won the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen". They received one half the prize, the other half going to the Argentinian physiologist, Bernardo Houssay "for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar". Their work helped clarify the mechanisms of carbohydrate metabolism, advancing understanding of the reversible conversion of sugars and starch, which proved crucial to the development of diabetic treatments.