Dr. Douglas Harold Copp: Calcitonin Pioneer

Dr. Douglas Harold Copp: Calcitonin Pioneer

By: Christina Hansen

Curricular Fit: This story and the associated questions fit well into the Biology 30 curriculum, particularly Unit 1 (Systems Regulating Change in Human Organisms), Topic 2: "The human organism maintains homeostasis through the use of complex chemical control systems."

Douglas Harold Copp may have never become a scientist if it had not been for a tragedy that he suffered. When he was young, his brother was shot and killed from a bullet fired by a burglar. It was at that time that Copp decided to pursue a career in medicine.

Copp, a Canadian, attended the University of Toronto, where he received his M.D. in 1939. He then completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. In his Ph.D. thesis, he was the first to use an isotope of iron, 55Fe, for his work involving hemoglobin production in bone marrow.

Again, radical events would guide Copp’s career. In this case, his completion of his Ph.D. work with radioactive isotopes came in 1943, two years from the end of World War II. Upon receiving his doctorate, he was immediately hired onto the Manhattan Project, the tremendous and secret effort put forth by the United States to develop the atomic bomb. Copp’s role was investigating the effects of radiation, specifically on the metabolic processes of nuclear fission products, on human bones. Afterwards, he returned briefly to Berkeley as a professor and researcher, but soon took a position at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as the first head of the newly formed Department of Physiology.

While starting at UBC, he worked with such a meager budget that he lived and worked in army huts set up on the beach, made many of his own simple tools for lab work, and was even forced to rub the markings off of graph paper so it could be reused repeatedly. However, even in these conditions, his experience in the Manhattan Project, which had ignited his passion for the study of bone and mineral metabolism, motivated him to continue.

After a few years of research into calcium’s role in biological processes in the body, Dr. Copp was continuing his research with a number of first-year medical students. It was the summer of 1961, and after various studies, they began to focus on parathyroid hormone. During this investigation, they discovered a second hormone in the body which regulates calcium levels: calcitonin. At the time, Copp has stated, he "did not really expect it to be of much practical significance, or it would have been discovered long ago." His research continued into this new hormone, and in 1969, he led a team which, in just three months, isolated and synthesized salmon calcitonin, which they went on to prove is the most effective for human therapy.

Human therapy is an extremely important use of calcitonin. Besides being an important hormone in the body, it has been used to treat conditions including osteoporosis, Paget’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and hypercalcemia. In addition, calcitonin is emerging as an analgesic agent, as it is 30-50 times more powerful than morphine while also having the great advantage of not being addictive. Currently, its main painkilling use is in relieving the extremely severe pain of bone cancer. Calcitonin sales in the early 1990s were estimated at approximately $1 billion (US dollars) per year, exceeded only by insulin. Dr. Copp continued to pursue his research until a few years before his death in 1998.

Questions

1. What impact do you think that events happening outside of Dr. Copp’s control directed the course of his life? Why do you think they impacted him to that level?

2. Do you think that if Dr. Copp might have made his calcitonin discovery much earlier if he would have had access to better facilities and equipment in his early days at UBC? Why?

3. After he initially discovered calcitonin, he said he "did not really expect it to be of much practical significance, or it would have been discovered long ago." What do you feel this says about Dr. Copp?

4. Dr. Copp stated that he made his discovery of calcitonin along with many first-year medical students. However, they are not mentioned in sources that state the discoverer of calcitonin, as Dr. Copp is listed as the sole scientist involved. Do you feel that this is justified, or do you feel that the first-year medical students deserved more recognition? Why?

5. In attempting to determine the effects of ionizing radiation on humans in case of a nuclear war, many studies in The Manhattan Project involved animal testing with rats and beagles, including placing them near "ground zero" (site of the nuclear explosion), retrieving them, studying their symptoms, and later killing them to conduct autopsies on their bodies. Later at UBC, Dr. Copp conducted studies on the effects of severe phosphorus deficiency in rats. Both events led to furthering the understanding of the workings of human bodies, including effects of diseases, deficiencies, and treatments. Do you feel that this type of research was justified? Give your reasons.

References

Alberta Learning (1994). Program of Studies: Biology 30. http://ednet.edc.gov.ab.ca/studentprograms/

Baimbridge, Kenneth.G (1998). In Memory Of D. Harold Copp. http://www.physiology.ubc.ca/Copp.html

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (1999). The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame: Dr. Douglas Harold Copp. http://www.cdnmedhall.org/Inductees/copp_94.htm

GCS Research Society (1996). Great Canadian Scientists. http://www.science.ca/reference.php?cID=6

GCS Research Society (1995). Great Canadian Scientists Long List. http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientists.php

Hefner, Loretta & Gourley, Karoline for the U.S. Department of Energy (1994). Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years: Oral History of Radiation Biologist Marvin Goldman, Ph.D. http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0468/0468toc.html

McCann, Sharon (1990). Calcitonin: A Canadian Discovery. http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/mccann02.html

University of British Columbia (1999). Senate Meetings – May 20, 1998. http://www.student-services.ubc.ca/senate/pub/minute97-98/0598/05984.htm

University of British Columbia Library: Special Collections and University Archives (2000). UBC Archives – Honorary Degree Citations 1972-1980. http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/ubc_arch/hdcites/hdcites7.html

Webber, William (1998). Harold Copp: 1915-1998: Medical pioneer, researcher and teacher. http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/reports/98apr2/98apr2memo.html#copp