Delivered by Bob Gagel at Agi's Memorial Service, Congregation Beth Yeshurun, June 14, 2017
I am Robert Gagel. I have known Agi Schonbrunn for almost 50 years. We first met in the summer of 1977 when we were both postdoctoral fellows working in the laboratory of Armen Tashjian Jr., a Harvard faculty member. I remember Agi as a young, enthusiastic and ever questioning scientist; it was also during this period that my wife, Margo, and I developed a lifetime friendship with Agi and David.
It was during her postdoctoral fellowship that Agi found her life's work identifying and studying the receptor for a small protein hormone named somatostatin. In 1978, Agi published a classic paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry describing receptors or proteins on the surface of pituitary cells that bind somatostatin and mediate its effect on growth hormone production. This was terrific piece of work, using newly developed technology to identify receptors for hormones and led to her appointment as a faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1979. Although I am sure she did not realize it at the time, the receptor she identified would turn out to be very important, the most important "off switch" in the hormone world, and would be the subject of her life's work. As a result of her work, it was possible to develop somatostatin analogues that are now used to treat a variety of medical conditions including excessive growth caused by certain pituitary tumors, certain neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas and several other conditions. In the mid 1980s she moved to the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston where she continued her work on the somatostatin receptor. She has been continually active and, indeed, during Agi's last year of life she worked to develop a new somatostatin analogue that will overcome some of the limitations of existing somatostatin analogues, opening up new vistas for this compound.
What I marveled most about Agi was her ability to think in 3-dimensions. She had an ability to imagine how a small hormone might interact with its receptor and how this interaction might be enhanced by a small modifications of the protein. Those of you who knew Agi will recognize her bubbly excitement with each new piece of data that contributed to a better understanding of how somatostatin worked. This work is so important that it will likely continue after her death.
I will miss very much the long discussions my wife and I had with Agi and David about science and almost everything else. David, I hope we can continue these interactions with you. And Michael, Matthew, Robynn, and Julia, I know that she is looking over you every minute.