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Waldmann is an immunologist who demonstrated how monoclonal antibodies could induce tolerance to foreign proteins and transplanted tissues. He and his team developed the first humanised monoclonal antibody (alemtuzumab) which is now used for combating leukaemia, preventing transplant rejection and treating autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and vasculitis.
1945-02-27T00:00:00+0000| 27 Feb 1945 | | Herman Waldmann was born in LebanonWaldmann | Cambridge University, Oxford University | Immunology, Monoclonal antibodies |
Together with Cesar Milstein, Kohler developed the first unlimited supply of long-lasting monoclonal antibodies. Their technique now underpins the development and application of many diagnostics and therapeutics. Kohler and Milstein devised the method as part of their search for a tool to investigate how the immune system can make so many different kinds antibodies, each able to bind to a highly specific receptor on foreign substances that invade the body. 1946-04-17T00:00:00+0000| 17 Apr 1946 | | Georges Kohler was born in Munich, GermanyKohler | Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Monoclonal antibodies |
Astrid Fagraeus, a Swedish immunologist, publishes her doctoral thesis demonstrating plasma B cells produce antibodies. 1948-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1948 | | Antibody production found in plasma B cellsFagraeus | Karolinska Institutet | Antibodies |
Macfarlane Burnet and Frank Fenner develop the concept that organisms can discriminate between self and non-self. Defined as immune tolerance this helped explain how the body fails to mount an attack against its own antigens and against certain external antigens. This theory inspired greater investigation into antibodies and unravelling the mechanism underlying autoimmunity, laying the foundation for organ transplants. 1949-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1949 | | Immune tolerance concept developedBurnet, Fenner | Walter and Eliza Hall Institute | Antibodies |
In 1978 Birndorf, along with Ivor Royston, helped found Hybritech, America's first biotechnology company dedicated to monoclonal antibodies. Birndorf went on to found other companies including: Gen-Probe, IDEC Pharmaceuticals (which merged with Biogen to form Biogen-Idec), Ligand, Gensia (Sicor), Neurocrine Biosciences, FastTraQ and Nanogen. 1950-02-21T00:00:00+0000| 21 Feb 1950 | | Howard Birndorf was born in Detroit, Michigan, USABirndorf | Hybritech | Monoclonal antibodies |
Schoemaker was co-founder and first Chief Executive Officer of Centocor, an American biotechnology company that pioneered the commercialisation of monoclonal antibody diagnostics and therapeutics. After Centocor was sold to Johnson & Johnson for $5.2 billion in 1999, Schoemaker founded Neuronyx to develop cellular therapies. One of the treatments pioneered by Neuronyx was the use of stem cells from bone marrow to help regenerate heart tissue damaged by heart attacks. 1950-03-23T00:00:00+0000| 23 Mar 1950 | | Hubert Schoemaker was born in Deventer, The NetherlandsSchoemaker | Deventer, The Netherlands | Monoclonal antibodies, Stem cells |
Henry Kunkel, an American immunologist, while studying the blood of patients with myeloma (a type of cancer that develops from plasma cells in the bone marrow) unexpectedly discovers myeloma proteins to resemble normal antibodies.1951-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1951 | | Myeloma cells found to resemble normal antibodiesKunkel | Rockefeller University | Antibodies |
A pioneer of protein engineering, Winter invented techniques to both humanise and later to make fully human antibodies for therapeutic uses. Today his technology is used in over two-thirds of antibody drugs on the market, including Humira, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions, which in 2012 was listed as the top selling drug in the world. He is also the founder of three biotechnology companies: Cambridge Antibody Technology, Domantis and Bicycle Therapeutics. 1951-03-31T00:00:00+0000| 31 Mar 1951 | | Gregory Winter was born in Leicester, UKWinter | Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Monoclonal antibodies |
Peter Medawar, Brazilian-British biologist, Rupert Billingham, British-American scientist, and Leslie Brent, German-British immunologist, confirm the theory of immune tolerance through skin gafting experiments with mice. The work helped shift immunologists focus away from efforts to manage the fully developed immune mechanism towards altering the immunity mechanism itself, such the immune suppression to prevent the body's rejection of organ transplants.1953-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1953 | | Immune tolerance theory proved in experimentsMedawar, Billingham, Brent | University College London | Antibodies |
A pioneer of antibody engineering, Neuberger developed some of the first techniques for the generation of chimeric and humanised antibodies. He also helped create the first transgenic mice for the production of human monoclonal antibodies. His work paved the way for the generation of safer and more effective monoclonal antibody drugs. 1953-11-02T00:00:00+0000| 2 Nov 1953 | | Michael Neuberger was born in London, United KingdomNeuberger | London | Monoclonal antibodies |
Niels Jerne, a Danish immunologist, David Talmage, and Ameican immunologist, and Macfarlane Burnet, an Austrialian immunologist, independently develop the clonal selection theory. This proposes that the cell is repsonsible for making antibodies and that a small number of antibodies can distinguish between a larger number of antigen determinants. 1955-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1955 - 1959 | | Clonal selection theoryJerne, Talmage, Burnet | Danish National Serum Institute, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute | Antibodies |
The American molecular geneticist Joshua Lederberg and the Austrian-Australian biologist Gustav Nossal publish results from experiments confirming one cell is responsible for the production of just one type of antibody. This confirms the clonal selection theory. 1958-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1958 | | The cell is confirmed responsible for antibody productionJoshua Lederberg, Nossal | University of Wisconsin, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute | Antibodies |
Originally developed to measure insulin levels, the radioimmunoassay (RIA) provides a highly sensitive means of measuring incredibly low concentrations of many different substances in solutions. It does this by taking advantage of the antigen-antibody reaction and radioactive materials. The technique is now used for a variety of purposes, including screening for the hepatitis virus in blood, determining effective dosage levels of drugs and antibiotics, detecting foreign substances in the blood and correcting hormone levels in infertile couples. RS Yalolw, SA Berson, 'Assay of plasma in human subjects by immunological methods', Nature, 184 (1959), 1648-49. 1959-11-21T00:00:00+0000| 21 Nov 1959 | | Rosalyn Yalow and Soloman Berson published the radioimmunoassay method opening up a new era in immunology and diagnosticsYalow, Berson | Veterans Administration Hospital | Antibodies, Diagnostics |
Georges Barski, Serge Sorieul and Francine Cornefert, French scientists at the Institut Gustave Roussy, spot cellular fusion occurs when two different tumour cell lines, taken from two different inbred strains of mice, are grown as a cell mixture in tissue cultures. This observation lays the basis for the development of new techniques for cellular fusion. 1960-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1960 | | Cellular fusion technique formulatedBarski, Sorieul, Carnefert | Institut Gustave Roussy | Monoclonal antibodies |
Bordet was a Belgian physician, immunologist and microbiologist who won the 1919 Nobel Prize for his discovery of two components in the blood - antibodies and complement proteins. The two components help destroy invading bacteria by rupturing the cell walls of the bacteria, a process known as bacteriolysis. Bordet made the discovery in 1895. Three years later Bordet observed that red blood cells from one animal species injected into another get destroyed by haemolysis - a process analogous to bacteriolysis. His finding led to the development of diagnostic tests that hunt for antibodies in the blood to detect infectious agents. The first one was for typhoid, developed in 1896. 1961-04-06T00:00:00+0000| 6 Apr 1961 | | Jules Bordet diedBordet | Pasteur Institute | Antibodies, Immunology, Diagnostics |
Independently Rodney Porter, a British scientist, and Gerald Edelman, an American biologist, determine the structure of antibodies to consist of heavy and light protein chains, which join together to form three sections yielding a molecule shaped like the letter Y.1962-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1962 | | Antibodies discovered to have structure like a 'Y'Porter, Edelman | National Institute for Medical Research, Rockefeller University
| Antibodies |
Niels Jerne, Danish immunologist, and Albert Nordin develop a plaque test which allows for the first time scientists to visualise and determine the number of antibody-producing cells with the naked eye. 1963-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1963 | | Plaque test allows visualisation of antibodiesJerne, Nordin | University of Pittsburgh | Antibodies |
Milstein is awarded a three-year MRC contract, arranged by Fred Sanger, to work at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology.1963-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1963 | | Cesar Milstein returns to Cambridge and begins researching the structure and diversity of antibodiesMilstein | Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Monoclonal antibodies |
C.M. Milstein, 'Disulphide bridges and dimers of Bence-Jones Protein,' Journal of Molecular Biology, 9 (1964), 836-8.1964-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1964 | | Cesar Milstein publishes his first paper on antibodiesMilstein | Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Antibodies |
The medium was first described by John Littlefield in work he did to characterise four cell lines. He published this in JW Littlefield, 'Selection of hybrids from matings of fibroblasts in vitro and their presumed recombinants,' Science 145 (1964), 709–10.The HAT meidum has the advantage that it can inhibit unfused myeloma cell proliferation. This is particularly important for the growth of monoclonal antibodies. 1964-08-14T00:00:00+0000| 14 Aug 1964 | | HAT medium introduced for cell selectionLittlefield | Harvard University | Cell culture, Monoclonal antibodies |
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