Italian-American neurologist 1909-

Rita Levi-Montalcini, born in Turin, Italy, is a prominent neurologist who discovered nerve-growth factor (NGF), a substance that controls how many cells make up the adult nervous system. This 1952 discovery has become an important clue to how life starts as a single embryonic cell and then marvelously differentiates into a complex organism made up of many different cell types. Levi-Montalcini's work has also contributed to the understanding of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, tissue regeneration, and the mechanisms of cancer.

Rita Levi-Montalcini discovered nerve-growth factor.

Before the discovery of NGF, little was known about how organs signal developing nerve cells to link up with them or how messenger chemicals tell nerve cells when to grow and when to stop growing. Scientists now know of several hundred signals that affect cells and organs, and growth factors can be used to speed up...