abstract:Eugene Goldwasser (October 14, 1922 – December 17, 2010) was an American biochemist at the University of Chicago who identified erythropoietin (widely known as EPO or Epo), a hormone that plays a vital role in the synthesis of red blood cells. After sharing the minute quantities that he had been able to isolate with researchers at the biotechnology firm Amgen, that company was able to use genetic engineering technology to produce useful amounts of EPO as a drug to treat anemia that has achieved substantial financial success, but that has also been used by athletes as a performance-enhancing drug.