Leland Clark Facts

Leland Clark Facts
Leland C. Clark Jr. (December 4, 1918 to September 25, 2005) was an American biochemist. He invented the Clark electrode, a device used for measuring oxygen in liquids. Clark is considered the "father of biosensors," and he did the pioneering research on the glucose sensor used to measure glucose levels in the blood.
Interesting Leland Clark Facts:
Leland Clark was born in Rochester, New York.
He was one of the few students to score 100 on the New York Regents science Exam.
In 1941 he earned a B.S. in chemistry from Antioch College in Ohio and in 1944, received a PhD in Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Rochester.
He was an Assistant Professor biochemistry at Antioch College.
From 1955 to 1958 he was also a Senior Research Associate in Pediatrics and Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
In 1958 he joined the faculty of the University of Alabama Medical College as an associate professor of biochemistry.
From 1968 to his retirement in 1991 he was professor of research pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation.
He was the inventor of Oxycyte which is a perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier designed to increase oxygen perfusion of damaged tissues.
Oxycyte can carry five times more oxygen than hemoglobin but it is not a complete blood substitute and it is still in clinical trials.
Clark invented the first device that rapidly reads blood glucose levels which is critical to the management of diabetes and he holds a patent for an implantable blood glucose biosensor.
In 1954 he invented the Clark Oxygen Electrode measures dissolved oxygen and which has biomedical, industrial and environmental applications.
Real time blood oxygen monitoring has revolutionized the field of surgery and made the outcomes much safer for patients.
In 1962 he received the National Institutes of Health Research Career Award and was a recipient of the Horace Mann award for Service to Humanity in 1984.
In 1991 he was awarded the American Heart Association Samuel Kaplan visionary Award and was also enshrined in the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame.
In 2005 he was awarded the Fritz J. and Dolores H Russ Prize from the National Academy of Engineering which recognizes bioengineering advances that improve the human condition.


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