Vanderbilt is a globally renowned university known for its groundbreaking research, and the Nobel Prize is often seen as the reward for the pinnacle of human achievement. While many know Vanderbilt’s reputation for biomedical research, fewer people know about the two Nobel laureates who earned Nobel Prizes while working at Vanderbilt University. Though they were awarded the prize decades ago, Stanley Cohen’s and Earl Sutherland’s revolutionary work has created ripples that permeate scientific research at Vanderbilt to this day.

Stanley Cohen

Stanley Cohen was born in New York on November 17, 1922, to two Russian Jewish immigrants. Cohen was accepted to Brooklyn College, which had no tuition. During his undergraduate education, he found himself drawn to cell biology and embryonic development. After working as a bacteriologist in a milk processing plant to save money for graduate school, he received an M.A. in zoology from Oberlin College and then a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His thesis was about the metabolic mechanisms of earthworms.

Working in the Department of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis, Cohen studied carbon dioxide fixation in frog eggs. Cohen discovered that the nerve growth factor, a natural substance discovered by Rita Levi-Montalcini (his co-laureate), caused the eyes of newborn mice to open and teeth to erupt earlier than usual. He eventually started working with Levi-Montalcini to isolate the nerve growth factor. He came to Vanderbilt in 1959 to investigate the epidermal growth factor, for which he won the Nobel Prize. He died in Nashville on February 5, 2020. 

Earl Sutherland

Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. was born on November 19, 1915, in Burlingame, Kansas. His father ran a dry goods store, where all of his children worked. He played many sports in high school and was an avid fisherman as well. After graduating from Washburn College, he was accepted into Washington University and researched under Carl Ferdinand Cori (1947 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine). After getting his M.D., he worked as an army physician during World War II, serving as battalion surgeon under General S. Patton. After returning from the war, he was unsure of what direction to take: research or medical practice. Cori ultimately convinced him that research was the better path for him. He returned to WashU and continued his research under Cori. As stated in his Nobel Lecture, he occasionally felt tempted to see patients but never regretted his choice to stay in the laboratory.

After various teaching positions at WashU, Sutherland moved to Case Western Reserve University, where he conducted trailblazing research that led to the discovery of a substance called cyclic AMP (cAMP). He then came to Vanderbilt as a professor of anatomy and continued working on cAMP. After 10 years, he went to the University of Miami and continued his research. This decision was surprising but was probably due to his failing health. In 1971, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his revolutionary work with secondary messengers and cAMP. He died on March 9, 1974, at the age of 58 following an esophageal hemorrhage. 

Though he died prematurely at the height of his productivity, he was able to make crucial discoveries and have a lasting impact on biology and medicine that can be felt to this day.

References

Cohen, S. (1986). Biographical. NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1986/cohen/biographical/

Sutherland, E. (2024). Memoir. National Academy of Sciences. https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sutherland-earl.pdf