HESTRIN, SHLOMO

HESTRIN, SHLOMO (1912–1962), Israel biochemist. Born in Canada, Hestrin studied at the University of Winnipeg and went to Palestine in 1933, worked on a kibbutz, and completed his studies at the Hebrew University. In 1939 Hestrin became research assistant and later guest researcher at universities in the U.S. and returned to Israel in 1949 to become head of the microbiological chemistry laboratory at the Medical School in Jerusalem. In 1959 he was appointed head of the department of biochemistry. He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1957. His field of research was in biochemistry of sugars, properties of yeast enzymes in decomposition, the structure and synthesis of polysaccharides in bacteria and their use in medical research and to increase blood volume. Hestrin contributed much to the development of teaching and research in biochemistry at the Hebrew University.