Jens Christian Skou

Jens Christian Skou was a Danish biochemist who discovered the sodium–potassium pump, an ion-transporting enzyme, and shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Aarhus University: A public research university in Aarhus, Denmark, founded in 1928. Skou conducted the research there that led to his discovery of the sodium–potassium pump.
Sodium–potassium pump: A membrane enzyme that uses ATP to move sodium ions out of cells and potassium ions into them. This is the enzyme Skou identified and characterized.
Crab nerve tissue: Nervous tissue from crabs, used in biochemical experiments on ion transport. Skou used this material to detect ATP-driven enzyme activity associated with ion movement.
Resting potential: The stable voltage across a cell membrane when the cell is not actively signaling. The pump sustains ion gradients that help preserve this electrical state.
Jens Skou’s laboratory: The research group in which Skou investigated enzymes in cell membranes. Its experiments on crab nerve tissue produced evidence for the sodium–potassium pump.
P-type ATPase: A family of membrane transport enzymes that form a phosphorylated intermediate during ATP-driven ion transport. The sodium–potassium pump belongs to this enzyme family.
Sodium–potassium ATPase: The enzyme that hydrolyzes ATP while transporting sodium and potassium ions across cell membranes. Skou’s 1957 paper identified this enzyme activity in crab nerve membranes.
Action potential: A rapid, temporary change in membrane voltage that propagates along excitable cells. Pump activity restores ion distributions after repeated electrical signaling.
Paul D. Boyer: An American biochemist who studied ATP synthesis and shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Boyer shared Skou’s Nobel Prize for research on ATP synthesis, a different part of the award.
ATP hydrolysis: The chemical reaction that breaks ATP into ADP and inorganic phosphate, releasing usable free energy. The pump couples this reaction to ion transport.

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