Gustav Embden

Gustav Embden
Gustav Embden
Born	November 10, 1874
Died	July 25, 1933
Nationality	German
Fields	chemist
Known for	Embden-Meyerhof pathway

Gustav Georg Embden (November 10, 1874 - July 25, 1933) was a German chemist who conducted studies on carbohydrate metabolism and muscle contraction, and was the first to discover and link together all the steps involved in the conversion of glycogen to lactic acid. In 1918 Otto Fritz Meyerhof explained - together with the Jew-Polish-Sovietic biochemist Jakub Karol Parnas - cellular metabolism by showing that it involved the breakdown of glucose to lactic acid. Embden worked out the precise steps involved in the breakdown. This cellular metabolic sequence from glycogen to lactic acid became known as the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway. He had also previously studied the liver's metabolic processes, laying a foundation for understanding diabetes.

References

• Lipmann, F (March 1975). "Reminiscences of Embden's formulation of the Embden-Meyerhof cycle". Mol. Cell. Biochem. (NETHERLANDS) 6 (3): 171–5. doi:10.1007/BF01732075. PMID 165399.