Bengt I. Samuelsson life and biography

Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson is a Swedish biochemist.Samuelsson was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1982, sharing the honor with his mentor, Sune K. Bergström, and with British pharmacologist John R. Vane. Samuelsson, working with Bergström, was the first to describe the molecular structure of a prostaglandin.

They later showed that prostaglandins come from an unsaturated fatty acid that found in some meats and vegetable oils. Working without Bergström, Samuelsson eventually showed how this arachidonic acid combines with oxygen to form prostaglandins, and identified several other prostaglandins, including thromboxane, which helps causing blood platelets to clot.

His research interests were originally in cholesterol metabolism with importance to reaction mechanisms. Following the structural work on prostaglandins along with Sune Bergström he has interested mainly in transformation products of arachidonic acid.

This has directed to the identification of endoperoxides, thromboxanes and the leukotrienes, and his group has chiefly been involved in studying the chemistry, biochemistry and biology of these compounds and their function in biological control system. The research has implications in numerous clinical areas, especially in thrombosis, inflammation, and allergy.

Since 1993, he has served as Chairmen of the Board for the Nobel Foundation.

Author of books:
-Studies on Reaction Mechnisms in Bile Acid Formation and Metabolism (1960)
-Advances in prostaglandin and thromboxane research (1976, with Rodolfo Paoletti)
-Advances in Inflammation Research (1979, with Gerald Weissmann and Rodolfo Paoletti)
-Leukotrienes and Other Lipoxygenase Products (1982, with Rodolfo Paoletti)
-Advances in Prostaglandin, Thromboxane, and Leukotriene Research. (1983, with Rodolfo -Paoletti and Peter W Ramwell)
-Drugs Affecting Leukotrienes and Other Eicosanoid Pathways (1985)
-Prostaglandins and Related Compounds (1987)
-Prostanoids and Drugs (1989)
-Trends in Eicosanoid Biology (1990)
-Novel Inhibitors of Leukotrienes (1999, with Giancarlo Folco and Robert C Murphy)

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