Michael and Kate Bárány were each born in Hungary, in 1921 and 1929, respectively. They each survived the German concentration camps in 1944-1945, and met and married in 1949. Michael and Kate Bárány
Michael and Kate Bárány were each born in Hungary, in 1921 and 1929, respectively. They each survived the German concentration camps in 1944-1945, and met and married in 1949.
Michael received an M.D. in 1951 and a Ph.D. in 1956 in Hungary; Kate received a M. Sc. in Physics and Mathematics in 1952 in Hungary and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1959 in Germany . They emigrated to the USA in 1960, worked at the Institute for Muscle Disease in New York City, 1960-1974, then moved to Chicago and worked together at the University of Illinois, 1974-present. Michael (mbarany@uic.edu) is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and Kate (kbarany@uic.edu) is Professor Emerita in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
Research: Michael and Kate Bárány worked together on the mechanism of muscle contraction, and published jointly 67 full papers and 12 reviews / book chapters. Selected publications include:
Bárány, M. and Bárány, K. Studies on “Active Centers” of l-Myosin. Biochim. Biophys Acta. 35, 293-309 (1959).
This was the first demonstration that the sites of myosin which interact with actin and ATP are located in different parts of the myosin molecule.
Bárány, M, and Bárány, K. Change in the Reactivity of Myosin during Muscle Contraction. J. Biol. Chem. 245, 2717-2721 (1970).
Bárány, M. and Bárány, K. A Proposal for the Mechanism of Contraction in Intact Frog Muscle. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 37, 157-167 (1972).
Bárány, K, and Bárány, M. Phosphorylation of the 18,000 Dalton Light Chain of Myosin during a Single Tetanus of Frog Muscle. J.Biol. Chem. 252, 4752-4754 (1977).
Myosin light chain phosphorylation in live muscle was described for the first time.
Bárány, M, and Bárány, K. Calponin Phosphorylation Does not Accompany Contraction of Various Smooth Muscles. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1179, 229-233 (1993).
Independently, Kate Bárány pioneered the discovery of the myosin light chains:
Bárány, K. and Oppenheimer, H. Succinylated Meromyosins. Nature 213, 626-627 (1967).
Michael Bárány made the seminal observation that the ATPase activity of myosin is linearly related to the speed of shortening of muscle from which the myosin was isolated.
Bárány, M. ATPase Activity of Myosin Correlated with Speed of Muscle Shortening. J. Gen. Physiol. 50, 197-216 (1967).
As of the end of 1997, this paper was cited about 1700 times.
Subsequently, Michael Bárány showed that upon transformation of the fast muscle to a slow muscle in live rat, the myosin ATPase decreased proportional to the decrease in speed of shortening; vice versa, when the slow muscle was transformed into a fast muscle, the myosin ATPase increased.
Bárány, M. and Close, R.I. The Transformation of Myosin in Cross-Innervated Rat Muscles. J. Physiol. 213, 455-474 (1971).
This paper was the first demonstration of nerve influence on gene expression in muscle.
Michael Bárány was the first scientist in the America's to record NMR spectra of live tissues, including those from human beings:
Burt, C.T., Glonek, T., and Bárány, M. Analysis of Living Tissue by Phosphorus-31 Magnetic Resonance. Science 195, 145-149 (1977).
Doyle, D.D., Chalovich, J.M., and Bárány, M. Natural Abundance 13C NMR Spectra of Intact Muscle. FEBS Lett. 131, 147-150 (1981).
Arus, C., Bárány, M., Westler, W.M., and Markley, J. L. 1H NMR of Intact Tissues at 11.1 T. J. Magn. Res. 57, 519-525 (1984).
Venkatasubramanian, P.N., Mafee, M.F., and Bárány, M. Quantitation of Phosphate Metabolites in Human Leg in Vivo. Magn. Reson. Med. 6, 359-363 (1988).
Bárány, M, Langer, B.G., Glick, R.P., Venkatasubramanian, P.N., Wilbur, A.C., and Spigos, D.G. In Vivo H-1 Spectroscopy in Humans at 1.5 T. Radiology 167, 839-844 (1988).
Michael Bárány published 164 refereed papers, 26 reviews / book chapters, and edited the book "Biochemistry of Smooth Muscle Contraction" (http://tigger.uic.edu/~mbarany/book.html).
Teaching Home Page: Biochemistry of Muscle Contraction, by Michael and Kate Bárány, http://www.uic.edu/classes/phyb/phyb516/ is extensively studied all over the world.
Family: Kate was teaching the children, from early age, about math, science, and laboratory techniques, including the use of the analytical ultracentrifuge. They won awards at numerous science fairs. George was accepted directly from high school to The Rockefeller University Ph. D. program. Francis received a B.Sc. in chemistry in two years. Both became full professors in life sciences at leading American universities.
Honors: Kate Bárány won several awards for excellence in teaching and became Woman of the Year, University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996. Michael Bárány became Distinguished Faculty of the College of Medicine and also University Scholar.
Kate and Michael Bárány were invited to write their scientific autobiography. “Strife and Hope in the Lives of a Scientific Couple.” Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry, Comprehensive Biochemistry 41, 91-167 (2000).