ry and study enzymes. A new breed of hunters tracking down the metabolic enzymes intrigued him. He spent a year, 1945, with Severo Ochoa at the New York University School of Medicine and a year with Carl and Gerty Cori at the Washington University School of Medicine. This is where he got to know enzymes for the first time and was captivated with them. In Ochoas lab he learned the philosophy and practice of enzyme purification. To attain the goal of a pure protein, the cardinal rule is that the ratio of enzyme activity to the total protein is increased to the limit. Despite initial failures, the immersion in enzymology was intoxicating to Kornberg; he discovered the momentum of experimental work exciting. Although enzymes were recognized in the nineteenth century as catalysts for certain chemical events in nature, their importance was not fully appreciated until their role in alcohol fermentation and muscle metabolism was defined. Then it became clear that virtually all reactions in an organism depend on the high catalytic potency of a cast of thousands of enzymes, each designed to direct a specific chemical operation. Deficiency of a single enzyme-as the results of mutation-could spell disaster for the cellular or human victim. It was at this time Kornberg realized that enzymes are the vital force in biology, the sites of vitamin actions, and the means for a better understanding of life as chemistry. Kornberg decided to take summer courses offered at Columbia University to better understand organic and physical chemistry. On completing these courses, he returning to Ochoas lab. He was luckier in his second attempt at enzyme purification. He joined Ochoa and Alan Mehler, who was a graduate student, in studies of a certain liver enzyme and its effects upon malic acid. Alan Mehler became Kornbergs devoted tutor. At the end of 1946, while working side by side with Ochoa, Kornberg overturned a cylinder, which had a domino effect that destro...
