Jorge Allende

Jorge Eduardo Allende, is an Chilean biochemist and biophysicist known for his contributions to the understanding of proteic biosynthesis and how transfer RNA is generated, and the regulation of maturation of amphibian eggs. He has been a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences since 2001, and was awarded with the Chilean National Prize for Nature Sciences in 1992.

Early life

Jorge Allende was born in Cartago, Costa Rica, son of Octavio Allende Echeverría, Chilean Consul in the city of Puntarenas, and Amparo Rivera Ortiz, a Costa Rican artist. Because of his father's job as an diplomat, he spent his childhood years between Costa Rica, Chile and the United States. He finished high school in a Jesuit School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where his father was appointed as the Chilean Consul. Subsequently he studied at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He obtained the Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree in 1957.

Career

He carried out his doctoral studies at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1961 under the tutorship of Prof. F.M. Richards. He did post doctoral work with Prof. Fritz Lipmann at Rockefeller University and with Marshall Warren Nirenberg at NIH.