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Ilona Banga (1906–1998) was a Hungarian biochemist known for co-discovering actomyosin and working to characterize how actin and myosin interact to produce muscle contraction. She and her husband József Mátyás Baló discovered the first elastase – an enzyme capable of degrading the protein elastin which gives tissues like veins their flexibility. She also contributed to work that earned Albert Szent-Györgyi the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937, including by developing methods for the purification and characterization of large quantities of vitamin C. During World War II she saved the equipment of the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Szeged.
She started studies in Szeged, continued at the University of Vienna and received an MSc in chemistry from the University of Debrecen in 1929. At the University of Debrecen she carried out Physiology research under the guidance of professor Fritz Verzár. (1989). 9789637179174, publisher. ISBN 9789637179174
In 1945, Albert Szent-Györgyi moved his lab from Szeged to Budapest and Banga followed him there. She later became chief of the Chemical Laboratory of the First Institute of Pathological Anatomy in Budapest, where she studied arteriosclerosis and aging with her husband József Baló. She retired in 1970. After retiring she remained engaged in the scientific community, serving as a scientific advisor to the Gerontology Institute from 1971 to 1986.
Banga was never made a professor, even though (in 1950) she received her DSc degree, making her eligible. She was, however, the first woman to achieve the rank of docent (comparable to associate professor) at the University of Szeged (1940). She authored two scientific texts, including Structure and Function of Elastin and Collagen, and was a founder member of the Hungarian Biochemical Society.Perham, Richard N. Purton, Mary (2025). 9781908990358, Third Millennium Publishing. ISBN 9781908990358
In order to get myosin to analyze, Banga extracted it from rabbit muscles – she minced rabbit muscles and extracted myosin from them following an established high salt protocol. One time she ran out of time to do the extraction and left the minced muscle sitting in saline overnight and when she came back the next morning it had changed from its usual thin liquid appearance to a thick, viscous solution. They found that if they added ATP to it the viscosity would decrease. Further work by another lab member, Brunó Straub, showed that Banga had extracted a combination of actin and myosin, which they called actinomyosin. Straub was able to isolate the actin and he, Banga, and other members of the lab carried out extensive characterization of actin, myosin, and actinomyosin, showing that it is responsible for muscle contraction.
The widespread distribution of their findings was hampered by World War II – Szent-Györgyi was wanted for anti-Nazi activities and went into hiding, and other male colleagues left the lab to escape drafting. Banga remained behind and saved the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and its equipment by posting signs on the door in German, Hungarian, and Russian identifying the facilities as an infectious disease laboratory and reporting hours for the drop-off of infectious materials. These signs warded off would-be thieves and made the Department of Medicinal Library the only institution at the University to come out of WWII with all of its equipment and facilities preserved.
Albert Szent-Györgyi left Hungary for the United States after the war, but Ilona stayed and became chief of the Chemical Laboratory of the First Institute of Pathological Anatomy in Budapest. The new position also came with a shift in focus – she became deeply involved in gerontology, the study of aging, with a specific interest in how the connective tissue of blood vessel walls changes with age. She carried out seminal work on arteriosclerosis with her husband József Mátyás Baló. One area of their investigation determining what causes degradation of the elastin fibers holding together the walls of veins. They discovered an enzyme made by the pancreas could degrade elastin and named it elastase. This is now known to be only one of a class of peptidases capable of cleaving elastin, and the pancreatic elastase Banga and Baló found is unlikely to play a role in arteriosclerosis, but it was the first elastolytic enzyme discovered. The discovery was met with skepticism initially, but, by crystallizing elastase, Banga was able to clear up doubt. Banga further characterized this enzyme and published more than 60 articles on elastase, elastin, and related molecules and processes during the period from 1948 to 1965.
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