Joseph Knoll (May 30, 1925-) was born in what was then Kassa, Hungary (now known as Kosice, Slovakia).

Education

Gymnasium (school), Budapest, 1935-1943, Pázmány Péter University, Faculty of Medicine, Budapest (from 1951 University of Medicine, Budapest, from 1969 Semmelweis University of Medicine, from 1999 Semmelweis University) 1946-1951, M.D. degree in 1951

Professional experience

In the Department of Pharmacology of University of Medicine, Budapest (now Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy Semmelweis University, Faculty of General Medicine): Teaching Assistant 1949-51; Assistant Professor, 1951-58; Docent, 1958-1962; Acting Head, 1962; Professor of Pharmacology 1963- ; Chairman; 1963-1993; Scientific Adviser, 1993-2004, Professor Emeritus 2004.

Offices at university and scientific societies

Vice-President of the University, 1964-70; Vice-President of the Class of Medicine in Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1967-1976; Committee of Pharmacological Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences: Secretary 1958-1962; President: 1962-1995; Hungarian Pharmacological Society: Foundation member, 1962; General Secretary, 1962-1967; President, 1967-1983; Life Honorary President, 1983- ; International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR): Member of the International Advisory Board of the 6th World Congress of Pharmacology, 1972-1975; Member of the Executive Board as Councillor, 1982-84; as first Vice President 1984-1987

Honours at academies, universities and scientific societies

Corresponding member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences 1970, Full member; 1979 Member of the Leopoldina Academy of Natural Sciences, 1974; Honorary doctor of the Medical Academy of Magdeburg, 1984; Honorary doctor of the Bologna University at the occasion of its 900th year anniversary, 1989; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (London), 1990; Foreign member of the Polish Academy of Art and Sciences, 1995; Honorary member of the Pharmacological Societies of Poland, 1980; Czechoslovakia, 1985 and Bulgaria, 1985; Honorary member of the Austrian Parkinson Society, 1986.

Significant awards

Semmelweis Prize, 1981; Issekutz Prize, 1982; National Prize of Hungary, 1985; Festschrift with 49 papers, 1985 (Neuropharmacology 85', Dedicated to Professor Knoll on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Eds. Kelemen,K., Magyar,K. Vizi,E.S., Publishing House of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 1985, p. 351); Award for Distinguished Service in European Pharmacology, 1999, Festschrift with 17 papers, 2000 (Milestones in monoamine oxidase research: discovery of (-)deprenyl. Dedicated to Professor Knoll on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Eds. Magyar,K. Vizi,E.S., Medicina Publishing House Co., Budapest, 2000), ‘Arany János Award’ of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2000, Award for outstanding contributions to Anti-Ageing Medicine (the Monte Carlo Award presented by Princess von Hohenzollern), 2001, Széchenyi Prize (renamed National Prize of Hungary) 2003.

Editorial boards, editorial adviory boards

in Hungary: 'Orvostudomány' (Journal of the Medical Class of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) 1968-1982 (Editor in Chief); Kísérletes Orvostudomány 1970-1982; Acta Physiologica Hungarica 1967-

in Foreign Countries: Pharmacological Research Communication; now Pharmacological Research 1970-1992; Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior 1973-1989; Horizons Biochemistry and Biophysics 1975-1979; European Journal of Pharmacology 1976-1981; Archives internationales de Pharmacodynamie et Thérapie 1977-1995; Journal International Medical Research 1978- ; Trends in Pharmacological Sciences 1979-1985; Medical Biology 1979 -1989; Excerpta Medica, Pharmacological Section 1988- ; Polish Journal of Pharmacology 1994-

Most important scientific accomplishments

1. Development of a battery of tests in the 50s for the pharmacological analysis and rapid screening of tranquillizers, psychostimulants and psychotomimetics
2. Analysis in the 60s of the physiological basis of drive-motivated behavior (summarized in a monograph in 1969)
3. Discovery of the cellulines, family of specific endogenous cardiotonic substances
4. Development of a new analgesic-antiinflammatory family, the pyrido-(1,2a)-pyrimidines. Rymazolium (Probon) is on the market since 1976
5. Development of a new family of opioid analgesics, the azidomorphines, with peculiar pharmacological spectrum
6. Discovery of satietins, an endogenous family of anorectic substances, thought to play the role of a rate limiting satiety signal in the negative feed back of food intake
7. Discovery of angiohypotensin an endogenous substance selectively inhibiting the release of noradrenaline from the intramural sympathetic nerves of the resistance vessels
8. Development of (-)deprenyl (Selegiline, Eldepryl, Jumex, Movergan). This was the first selective inhibitor of MAO-B. The drug is enhancing the activity of the catecholaminergic neurons in the brain without acting on the catecholaminergic receptors or influencing the uptake of catecholamines or inducing the release of catecholamines from their stores. Treatment with (-)deprenyl slows the age-related decline of sexual and learning performance and prolongs life. It slows the progress of neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
9. Discovery of the mesencephalic and cortical enhancer regulation and the proof that phenylethylamine (PEA) and tryptamine are endogenous mesencephalic enhancer substances. Demonstration that PEA and the amphetamines have a dual effect, they are in low concentration ‘enhancers’ and in high concentration releasers of catecholamines. (-)Deprenyl is for the time being the only PEA-derived synthetic mesencephalic enhancer substance in clinical use which is free of the catecholamine releasing property.
10. Development of the first tryptamine-derived benzofuranpropylaminopentane family of the synthetic mesencephalic enhancer substances and the elaboration of R-(-)-1-(benzofuran-2-yl)-2-propylaminopentane ^*, the most potent and selective synthetic mesencephalic enhancer substance for using it as a reference substance to study the mesencephalic enhancer regulation and for developing it as a follower of (-)-deprenyl in the clinic.

Publications

Knoll, J.: Theory of active reflexes. An analysis of some fundamental mechanisms of higher nervous activity. Publishing House of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest and Hafner Publishing Company, New York, 1969, p.131; Handbook of Pharmacology (in Hungarian), Medicina, Budapest, 1st edition 1965, 8th edition, 1993; p. 1003; Citation Classic January 15, 1982: Some puzzling pharmacological effects of monoamone oxidase inhibitors. Adv. Biochem. Psychopharmacol. 5:393-408, 1972; Memories of my 45 years in research. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 75, 65-72, 1994;

Number of papers: 852 (until the end of 2003);

Number of citations: 5750 (until the end of 2002);

Cumulative impact factor: 425.332 (until the end of 2003);

Number of patents: 53

Closing date: September, 2004

External links

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• http://xenia.sote.hu/depts/pharmacology/staff/knoll.htm
• http://www.selegiline.com/joseph-knoll.html
• http://www.antiaging-systems.com/extract/byauthor/knoll.htm
• http://www.biogenesis.co.za/pi-deprenyl.asp
• http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/deprenyl.html
• http://www.anti-aging-guide.com/51deprenyl.php

or Google search at:

• http://www.google.co.hu/search?q=joseph+knoll&hl=hu&lr=&start=10&sa=N

Hungarian scientists