Merrill W. ChaseBorn 17 Sep 1905; died 5 Jan 2004 at age 98.American immunologist who made groundbreaking discoveries in cellular immunology and experimental allergy. In the early 1940's, by transferring white blood cells between guinea pigs he found an immunity in the donor against the tuberculosis organism was also transferred. Thus he discovered a new class of immune response - cell-mediated immunity (which aids antibodies in protecting against disease). By the 1950s, using improved cell culture techniques, other experimenters identified lymphocyte cells (about 25% of white blood cells) as responsible for immunity, and later found different types. T cells are derived from the thymus mediated cellular immunity, and B cells from the bursa of Fabricius (an outgrowth of the cloaca in birds).« |
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