Folin, Otto (Knut Olof) (1867-1934)

Swedish-born US biochemist. An academic, he was a pioneer in practical colourimetry and chemical urinalysis. He expanded his work to analyses of blood and tissues. He co-developed the Folin-Wu method of assaying glucose in protein-free filtrates of blood.

He was born in Asheda, Sweden. He taught chemistry at the University of West Virginia, performed research at McLean Hospital in Waverly, Massachusetts, and then became the first professor of biological chemistry at Harvard Medical School. His interest in colour reactions formed the basis of quantitative clinical chemistry. He founded the Journal of Biological Chemistry (1905).