Rodney PorterBorn 8 Oct 1917; died 7 Sep 1985 at age 67.British biochemist who (with Gerald M. Edelman) was awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies. As giant molecules, antibodies are difficult to study. Both scientists looked for methods to split the large molecules into well defined fragments that, it was hoped, would prove to be more easily handled. Porter found that this could be done using papain, a protein splitting enzyme. Whereas previously it had earlier been assured that the most common type of antibody would carry two identical combining sites, Porter in fact found that the molecule split into three fragments: two smaller very similar ones, both with capacity of combining with the antigen, and one larger one lacking this capacity. He died in a car accident. |
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