Peter Agre

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Peter Agre bigraphy, stories - Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Distinguished Eagle Scout

Peter Agre : biography

January 30, 1949 –

Peter Agre (born January 30, 1949) is an American physician, professor, and molecular biologist who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (which he shared with Roderick MacKinnon) for his discovery of aquaporins. Aquaporins are water-channel proteins that move water molecules through the cell membrane. In 2009, Agre was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is currently a professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Biography

Agre was born in Northfield, Minnesota, to a Norwegian American father and a mother of Swedish and Norwegian descent. Agre is a Lutheran.http://www.nndb.com/people/868/000100568/http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=nobel-laureate-peter-agre-from-aqua-11-07-20http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2003/agre-autobio.html He received his B.A. from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and his M.D. in 1974 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. From 1975 to 1978 he completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine at Case Western Reserve University’s Case Medical Center under Charles C.J. Carpenter. He served as the Vice Chancellor for science and technology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, where he guided the development of Duke’s biomedical research. Agre leads the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI). Agre became director at JHMRI and joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on January 1, 2008. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 2000 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. He is also a founding member of Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA).

Agre is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA). Two of his brothers are also physicians, and they and his son Clarke are also Eagle Scouts.

Agre enjoys cross-country skiing and has participated in the Vasaloppet ski race.

Agre is known among science students for his humanity and humility. One of the reasons he gives for this is the grade of "D" Agre received in his first chemistry class, despite having a father who was a chemistry professor.P. Agre, (2008, May 2), lecture presented in Cellular Biology, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. He also notes that his prize-winning research was originally an investigation of the molecular identity of the human blood Rh factor, and his initial discovery of aquaporins was purely serendipitous. He appeared on The Colbert Report, discussing SEA, sound science in politics, and the decline of American knowledge of science, among other topics.

2008 Senate race

Agre would emphasize health care and environmental issues rather than the Iraq war. He said, "The issues that were important to us at the millennium are still important today." He also feels that the US Senate could benefit from the perspective of a medical scientist. Then on August 29 he announced that he would not enter the race for the Senate seat, calculating his chances of success with a late start to obtain the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement against the huge personal cost and the termination of his federally-funded scientific research program and humanitarian service. An advocate for increased representation of science in government, he would not rule out the possibility of seeking public office in the future.

On 31 August 2007, an editorial article written by Agre appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In it, he formally withdrew himself from consideration for the US Senate race of 2008, and presented a historical review of select Minnesotans who contributed to human advancement, science and medicine. He excluded his own seminal contribution to the understanding of how water moves across our cells—something scientists had debated for a century.

Agre issued a call for a "…new century of science". In this editorial he highlighted the paucity of scientists in Congress. He also contemplated the fact that both Germany and China have leaders who are trained research scientists (Germany: Angela Merkel, PhD, Physical Chemistry; China: Hu Jintao, Hydraulic Engineer).