Juda Hirsch Quastel

Who was Juda Hirsch Quastel?

Juda Hirsch Quastel, CC FRSC FRS was a British-Canadian biochemist who pioneered diverse research in neurochemistry, soil metabolism, cellular metabolism, and cancer.

Quastel, also known as "Harry" or "Q,” was born and educated in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. He served with the British Army as a Laboratory Assistant at St George's Hospital from 1917 to 1919.

Electing to study chemistry, Quastel received a baccalaureate from Imperial College London in 1921. Pursuing graduate work at the University of Cambridge, Quastel studied with Frederick Gowland Hopkins, the leading figure in British biochemistry and a future Nobel Prize recipient for his work on the nutritional importance of vitamins. Under Hopkins, Quastel received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge in biochemistry in 1924 and, not long after, was made a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Quastel remained in Hopkins’ department as a demonstrator and lecturer from 1923 to 1929, during which he pioneered the research of microbial enzymology. He obtained a doctorate of science from Cambridge in 1926 and received a Beit Memorial Fellowship in 1928.

Quastel accepted a position as Director of Research at the Cardiff City Mental Hospital in 1930. From this location, he was able to conduct early work on the enzymology and metabolism of the brain. For these studies, Quastel was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1940.