LABORATORY AND BRANCH RESEARCH REVIEWS 109Laboratory of Neurochemistry,
NIMH-NINDB^1
The Laboratory of Neurochemistry was the second joint NIMH-NINDB
laboratory within the basic research program. Kety’s original concept of
the laboratory included Sections in Physical Chemistry, Enzymology,
Cerebral Metabolism, Phosphorylation, and Endocrinology that would
study the chemical structure and metabolism of the nervous system
and the biochemical processes involved in normal and abnormal men
tal and neurological function.^2 Only the first two sections would be
realized and an official laboratory chief was never recruited.
As the laboratory’s acting chief–until a chief could be found–Kety
appointed Alexander Rich to be chief of the NIMH-supported Section
on Physical Chemistry, on August 1, 1952. Rich began his research at the
Gates and Crellin Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology,
while he awaited the opening of the NIH Clinical Center.^3 His section
employed X-ray diffraction and biochemical methods to study the chemical
structure of molecules, specifically, the structure, properties, and synthesis
of ribonucleic acid associated with protein synthesis and comparative
studies of natural and synthetic polynucleotides to understand the
configurations, interactions, and activity found in the ribonucleic acids
(RNA).^4 Other research focused on a structural model for fibrous pro
tein collagen and diffusion properties of lipid-containing membranes.^5
Rich left for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958
and during David R. Davies’s tenure as the acting chief of the sec
tion, Sidney A. Bernhard was recruited to succeed Rich. Bernhard had
been conducting research in the Division of Physical Biochemistry of
the Naval Medical Research Institute and had already been in touch
with the Section on Physical Chemistry and with the Laboratory of
Cellular Pharmacology.^6 When his tenure began in February of 1959,