Jens Christian Skou is a Danish scientist and physician who is credited with discovering the sodium potassium activated adenosine triphosphate (Na+ K+-ATPase), an ion-transporting enzyme. In 1997, he shared half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Paul Boyer and John E Walker for this discovery. Skou, a medical student, developed an interest in research while researching the active mechanism of local anaesthetic medicines. In the late 1950s, he discovered that crab nerve cell membranes contain an enzyme called sodium potassium ATPase, which acts as a sodium potassium pump, pumping sodium ions out of the cells and potassium ions into the cells to maintain the salt balance between the cells and the tissue fluid. This, in turn, aided in maintaining a high intracellular potassium content and a low sodium concentration in relation to the external environment. Similar ATPase-based enzymes, such as the ion pump that governs muscle contraction, were discovered as a result of his research. Skou had key academic posts in addition to conducting research.
Childhood and Adolescence
Jens Christian Skou was born on October 8, 1918, into a successful and wealthy family in Lemvig, Denmark. Magnus Martinus Skou, his father, was a lumber and coal merchant, and Ane Margrethe Skou, his mother, was a housewife. Skou, the couple’s oldest child, was the eldest of their four children.
When senior Skou died of pneumonia at a young age, tragedy struck the Skous family. Jens was only 12 years old at the time. However, his uncle took great care of the firm, with his mother as a passive partner, and the early loss had no effect on the family’s economic and financial situation.
Jens Skou was enrolled in a boarding school in Haslev, Zealand, when he reached 15, because there was no gymnasium or high school in Lemvig. Skou became interested in science and mathematics while at the gymnasium. He appeared for the final examination in 1937.
Skou opted to pursue medicine after graduating from high school after much deliberation. In 1937, he enrolled at the University of Copenhagen. Skou earned his medical degree in 1944 after seven years of study.
Career of Jens C Skou
Jens Skou finished his internship in a hospital in Hjrring for two years after graduating. While he spent the first six months practicing in a medical ward, he spent the last six months in the surgical sector. He began doing smaller operations toward the end. Skou became interested in local anaesthetics while working in the surgical ward and chose to pursue it as a thesis topic.
He briefly worked at the Aarhus Orthopaedic Hospital before finishing his clinical training in 1947 and joining Professor Soren L Orksov’s Institute for Medical Physiology at Aarhus University. He worked on his doctoral thesis on the anaesthetic and toxic mechanisms of action of local anaesthetics while at university.
Skou took on an extra job as a doctor on call one night a week in 1949, in addition to working at the Institute of Physiology and preparing his doctoral thesis. This allowed him to accomplish his dream of becoming a doctor. Skou converted from a political conservative to a social democrat while serving as a doctor, realizing the value of free education and medical treatment in society.
His thesis was published in 1957. His work on local anaesthetics, which was published in six papers, led to the discovery of the sodium-potassium pump, which is responsible for the active transfer of sodium and potassium across the cell membrane. His scientific focus moved from the effects of local anesthetics to active cation transport from then on.
Skou had observed that the ability of a chemical to dissolve in a layer of the lipid component of the plasma membrane was connected to its anesthetic action. He was aware that anesthetic chemicals influenced the opening of sodium channels, which he presumed were protein channels. He theorized that this disrupted the passage of sodium ions, rendering nerve cells inactive and resulting in anaesthesia.
Skou thought that local anaesthetics dissolving in the lipid section of the membrane would also impact the other forms of membrane protein. As a result, he came up with the notion of studying an enzyme buried in the membrane to see if its properties were modified by local anaesthetics. He studied the enzyme ATPase in crab nerves. The enzyme was present, but its activity was inconsistent.
Skou observed that ATPase was most active when exposed to the proper combination of sodium, potassium, and magnesium ions while experimenting. This revelation led him to believe that the enzyme was involved in the active transport of sodium and potassium across the plasma membrane. Skou’s findings were published, but he didn’t use the term’sodium-potassium pump’ in his manuscript because he didn’t want to associate the enzyme with the active ion transport.
Skou initially met Robert Post in 1958 while attending a conference in Vienna. Post had observed that for every two potassium ions pushed into the cell, three sodium ions were pumped out. He had used a chemical called ouabain to block the pump throughout his studies. When Skou noticed this, he understood that a link had been established between the enzyme and the sodium-potassium pump.
Skou was appointed chairman of Aarhus University’s Institute of Physiology in 1963 and held the position until 1978. Skou, meanwhile, was appointed as a professor of biophysics in 1977. In 1988, he left the University of Aarhus. Despite abandoning systematic experimental work, he continued to work on computer kinetic models for the pump’s overall reaction. He has maintained his offices at the Department of Physiology to this day.
Major Projects of Jens C Skou
Skou’s most significant contribution to biochemistry occurred in the late 1950s. He hypothesized that an enzyme is responsible for the transport of molecules through a cell’s membrane as a consequence of his experiments and study. He discovered that the nerve cell membranes of crabs contain an enzyme called sodium potassium ATPase, which functions as a sodium potassium pump, pumping sodium ions out of the cells and potassium ions into the cells to maintain the salt balance between the cells and the tissue fluid. This, in turn, aids in the maintenance of a high intracellular potassium concentration and a low sodium concentration in relation to the external environment.
Achievements & Awards
In 1997, Skou received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of Na+K+-ATPase. Paul D. Boyer and John E. Walker split the remaining half of the award.
Personal History and Legacy
Skou befriended Ellen Margrethe Nielsen, a medical probationer, while training in Hjrring. The two got along swimmingly. Neilson moved to Aarhus after finishing her nursing degree, and the two married in 1948. In 1950, the couple welcomed a daughter, who died a year and a half later. They were again blessed with two daughters in 1952 and 1954.
Jens Christian Skou Net worth
Based on information found on the internet ( Wikipedia,google Search,Yahoo search) Jens Christian Skou has a net worth of $ USD 4 million and earns a living as an autobiographer, physiologist, university professor, biochemist, and chemist. We don’t have enough information about Jens Christian Skou’s cars or lifestyle.