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Reflecting on more than four decades of work in biochemistry, Sarah Ratner has said, “I grew into biochemistry…”, and “…early influences are strongest in shaping our lives and the directions that scientists follow are of interest to other scientists” (ref 3, pp 244–5).
Born on June 9, 1903 in New York City, Sarah was the youngest of five children of Aaron and Hannah (Seltzer) Ratner who had emigrated from Russia during the latter half of the 19th century. Since her father was a self-educated man, her home was filled with books and reading was a valued past time. She also delighted in watching her father design and build models of his inventions.
Ratner had acquired a strong science and mathematics background in high school and she decided to apply to Cornell University to pursue a degree in chemistry, initially against the wishes of her parents. However, when she was awarded a scholarship, they no longer objected. After graduating from Cornell with a B.A. in chemistry in 1924, Sarah Ratner returned to New York City where she began work as an analytical chemist. She then worked in a clinical laboratory where she became engaged in pediatric research. She began to read papers from biochemical and medical journals, which piqued her interest in biochemistry. She also took evening graduate courses at Columbia University. By 1930 Ratner decided to pursue a Ph.D. and was accepted as a graduate student by Dr. Hans T. Clarke in the Department of Biochemistry at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Ratner’s thesis work established the structure of the stable product (thiazolidine carboxylic acid) formed when formaldehyde and cysteine reacted. She was awarded her Ph.D. in 1937.
Obtaining a postdoctoral position was very difficult for a woman during this period. Having finally found one some distance from New York City, Ratner turned it down due to family circumstances. She was invited to remain at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and work under Rudolf Schoenheimer on amino acid and protein metabolism using nitrogen-15 labeled amino acids. The results were startling and showed that labeling was a powerful tool for investigating the fate of metabolites in living organisms. According to Ratner, “The period in Schoenheimer’s laboratory left me with an abiding view of the broad aspects of nitrogen metabolism as a background and as a guide” (ref 3, p 252).
Ratner became an instructor and later assistant professor at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she also collaborated with Dr. David Green on the investigation of amino acid oxidases. In 1946, after being recruited by Severo Ochoa, Sarah Ratner accepted a position as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at NYU School of Medicine. Here she began her research on amino acid metabolism and elucidation of features of the urea cycle. In 1957 Ratner joined the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry at the Public Health Research Institute of New York. She and her research group published a series of fifteen papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on this work, which has had far-reaching effects in the treatment of kidney disorders.
In 1961, Sarah Ratner was awarded the Garvan Medal by the American Chemical Society for her research. She had previously won the Nuegerg Medal (1959). She served on the editorial boards of The Journal of Biochemistry and Analytical Biochemistry. Sarah Ratner died in New York on July 28, 1999.
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