Rita Levi-Montalcini discovered nerve-growth factor (NGF), the first cell-growth factor discovered. NGF is a protein that allows survival and growth of neurons.

Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin (Italy) on April 22, 1909. She studied medicine at Turin and began a research career in neurobiology.

In 1938, fascist anti-semitic laws forced her to leave university, but she continued her research in a little laboratory constructed in her bedroom. In 1948 she moved to Washington University (St Louis, USA), where she discovered the nerve-growth factor.

In 1986 Levi-Montalcini won the Nobel prize of physiology and medicine, shared with Stanley Cohen.

In 1981, Levi-Montalcini went to Rome. She actively engaged in scientific and social questions, and writted some best-seller books until her death, when she was 103 years old.

This Levi-Montalcini picture has been made by Sergi Quiñones Oliva (Othello).

More information:

• Nobel e-Museum.
• Hypothesis.it.
• Enciclopaedia Britannica.