CASPERSSON, TORBJRN OSKAR

born Oct. 15, 1910, Motala, Swed. Swedish cytologist and geneticist who initiated the use of the ultraviolet microscope to determine the nucleic acid content of cellular structures such as the nucleus and nucleolus. Caspersson received his M.D. from the University of Stockholm in 1936, served from 1944 to 1977 as medical director of the Nobel Institute for Medical Cell Research and the Wallenberg Laboratory for Experimental Cell Research in Stockholm, and from 1977 was professor and head of the medical cell research and genetics department of the Faculty of Medicine of the Royal Karolinska Medical-Surgical Institute in Stockholm. In Cell Growth and Cell Function (1950) Caspersson summarized much of his research by theorizing that nucleic acids must be present for protein synthesis to occur. He was the first to perform cytochemical studies on the giant chromosomes found in insect larvae. He also investigated the role of the nucleolus in protein synthesis and examined the relationship between heterochromatin quantity (the amount of a chromosome with few or no genes) and the rate of growth of cancer cells.