Levi-Montalcini, Rita (1909–2000)

Italian neurologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1986 with her co-worker, US biochemist Stanley Cohen, for their discovery of factors that promote the growth of nerve and epidermal cells. This nerve-growth factor controls how many cells make up the adult nervous system.

Levi-Montalcini was born and educated in Turin and began her research there. When the fascist anti-Semitic laws forced her to leave the university in 1939, she constructed a home laboratory. After World War II she moved to the USA and was at the Washington University in St Louis 1947–81, becoming professor in 1958. In 1981 she went to Rome.

Levi-Montalcini first discovered nerve-growth factor in the salivary glands of developing mouse embryos, and later in many tissues. She established that it was chemically a protein and analysed the mechanism of its action. Her work has contributed to the understanding of some neurological diseases, tissue regeneration, and cancer mechanisms.