Harvard Medical School. Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. Harvard University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine and Public Health scientific papers and departmental minutes

The Harvard University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine and Public Health was established in 1950 under the direction of Edwin J. Cohn (1892-1953), Higgins University Professor, to advance the study of physical and biological chemistry across Harvard University campuses in Boston, Massachusetts and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The University Laboratory superseded the Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Chemistry, which was founded in 1920. While located at the Harvard Medical School campus, the Laboratory was not affiliated with any particular school or department of the University, but cooperated with those departments with similar research objectives. Cohn was joined in the University Laboratory by his colleagues from the Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Chemistry: John T. Edsall (1902-2002), Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry; John L. Oncley (1910-2004), Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry; and Walter L. Hughes, Jr. (1915-2009), Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry.

The University Laboratory continued the research of the Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Chemistry, focusing primarily on protein chemistry, the formed elements of the blood, blood plasma fractionation (the process of separating out individual proteins found in blood plasma), and plasma preservation. Beginning in World War II, the department worked closely with the American Red Cross in efforts toward blood plasma fractionation, preservation, and substitution to facilitate more effective blood transfusions and prevent shock in injured soldiers. To this end, Laboratory members Edwin J. Cohn, Charles A. Janeway, and John L. Oncley served on National Research Council committees, including the Committee on Blood and Blood Derivatives, the Subcommittee on Blood and Related Problems, and the Subcommittee on Blood Substitutes. The department also collaborated locally with the Blood Research Institute (previously the Protein Foundation), Boston, Massachusetts, and the Commission on Plasma Fractionation and Related Processes, Boston, Massachusetts, in its research on blood plasma fractionation.

The Harvard University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine and Public Health was later incorporated into the Harvard Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, itself a product of the merger of the Department of Physical Chemistry and the Department of Pharmacology in 1987. The Department currently specializes in the use, development, and teaching of fundamental principles in biochemical, biophysical, molecular, and structural biology.