1. Rita Levi-Montalcini and her major contribution to neurobiology.
- Author
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Strata, Piergiorgio
- Abstract
Abstract: In this paper, I shall illustrate the personality of Rita Levi-Montalcini and highlight how she first emerged within a prestigious school, while under the direction of Giuseppe Levi, a most inspiring and stimulating figure. Between 1919 and 1938, he created a rich environment capable of influencing the minds of innumerable students; among them, three future Nobel Prize winners, Renato Dulbecco, Salvador Luria, and Rita Levi-Montalcini, who were companions in the same classroom. In 1938, due to the racial laws for the defence of the race, Luria and Levi-Montalcini were banned from entering the university premises. In a small working space in her bedroom—“a minuscule laboratory not unlike a convent cell”—Levi-Montalcini, supported by Levi, made a most outstanding discovery that opened a new chapter in neurobiology. Further collaborations with Viktor Hamburger and Stanley Cohen led Levi-Montalcini to the discovery of the nerve growth factor (NGF): a remarkable accomplishment which turned out to represent a milestone in the development of modern cell biology.Graphical abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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