| RefNo | EC/1995/44 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Levi-Montalcini, Rita: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1994 |
| Description | Certificate of Candidate for Election to Foreign Membership. Citation typed |
| Citation | Rita Levi-Montalcini began her work on factors which control the development of the nervous system in 1938 which was to lead to her Nobel Prize in 1986. Forced by anti-Semitic laws to quit the university, she continued work in hiding to describe peripheral factors which influence the spinal cord. In 1947 she joined Hamburger in St Louis to continue this search in vivo and in vitro. This led to the identification in the 1950's of Nerve Growth Factor present in peripheral tissue and having a profound effect on the development and maintenance of sympathetic and sensory cells. The factor was then isolated and analysed by Cohen with whom she shared the Nobel Prize. This discovery has led to an explosion of work on a family of compounds, the neurotrophins, with their genes and receptors. She played a continuing role in these developments and now leads the focus back to the periphery where it is apparent that Nerve Growth Factor influences peripheral tissue during inflammation. In addition to her science, she has initiated social projects including most recently a youth opportunity programme. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA4722 | Levi-Montalcini; Rita (1909 - 2012) | 1909 - 2012 |