Vincent Massey (enzymologist)
| Vincent Massey | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 28, 1926 Berkeley, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | August 26, 2002 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater |
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| Known for | Flavin Enzymology |
| Spouse(s) | Margot Grünewald |
| Awards |
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| Website | www |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Enzymology |
| Institutions |
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| Thesis | Studies on the Enzyme, Fumarase (1953) |
| Doctoral advisor | Malcolm Dixon |
Vincent Massey (November 28, 1926 – August 26, 2002) was an Australian biochemist and enzymologist best known for his contributions to the study of flavoenzymes. Massey was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995 for his use of physical biochemistry to relate flavin chemistry to flavin enzymology.
Massey grew up in a family of fishermen in a small village outside of Berkeley in New South Wales, Australia. Massey became interested in science in high school, to the point of performing home chemistry experiments. He was the first in his family to go to university and he obtained a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney in biochemistry in 1947.
He met his wife Margot, a survivor of the Holocaust, while he was working at a government laboratory Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a research biochemist. They married during his time there and left for the University of Cambridge in 1950, never returning to Australia. Vincent and his wife had three children.
After obtaining a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Sydney, Massey worked as a research biochemist for the CSIRO. He worked there for three years, and in that time published five papers on the inhibition of the TCA cycle in nematodes by fluoroacetate. The CSIRO awarded him with a fellowship that would allow him to pursue his doctoral degree at the University of Cambridge.
Massey did his thesis work with Malcolm Dixon. His thesis project revolved around the enzyme fumarase, which is not a flavoprotein. However, Massey was exposed to flavins in the lab through working with other students. After completing his thesis, he moved to the United States for a summer to work with Robert A. Alberty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here, he continued studying fumarase and published in 1954 possibly the first thorough paper studying steady-state kinetics of an enzyme as a function of pH.
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