Stanley Cohen (November 17, 1922 – February 5, 2020) was an American biochemist of Jewish descent. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986. His research helped people understand how cancer starts and how to design anti-cancer drugs.
He was also, with Herbert Boyer, one of the first to do any kind of genetic engineering.
Biography
Cohen majored in chemistry and biology at Brooklyn College. He received a bachelor's degree in 1943, and worked as a bacteriologist at a plant that processes milk. Later in 1945, he received an M.A. in zoology from Oberlin College. He also received a Ph.D. from the department of biochemistry at the University of Michigan in 1948.
In the 1950s, Cohen worked with Rita Levi-Montalcini at Washington University in St. Louis. He isolated the nerve growth factor and then discovered the epidermal growth factor. In 1959, he began teaching biochemistry at Vanderbilt University.
Cohen also received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1983 and the National Medal of Science in 1986.
Cohen died on February 5, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 97.