Susumu TonegawaBorn 5 Sep 1939.Japanese molecular biologist and immunologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1987 for his fundamental discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity in the body. Antibodies are produced by a special kind of white blood cells which are called B lymphocytes. In a pioneering study (1976) Tonegawa could through a series of ingenious experiments show how parts of the genome of the cell (DNA) is redistributed under its differentiation from an embryonic cell to an antibody producing B lymphocyte. Thus, he finally answered the question how the gene material in B cells could suffice to create the structures of a seemingly endless number of different antibodies. |
