Milstein, César (1927-2002)

César Milstein, a molecular biologist and winner of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. This photograph was taken in the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, where Milstein and his colleagues developed monoclonal antibodies, the achievement for which his Nobel Prize was awarded.

Argentine-born British molecular biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1984 for his work on immunity and the discovery of a technique for producing highly specific, monoclonal antibodies, which give immunity against specific diseases. He shared the prize with Georges Köhler and Niels Jerne.

Monoclonal antibodies are cloned cells that can be duplicated in limitless quantities and, when introduced into the body, can be targeted to seek out sites of disease. Milstein and his colleagues had thus devised a means of accessing the immune system for the purposes of research, diagnosis, and treatment.

Milstein and his colleagues, while working at Britain's Cambridge University, devised a means of accessing the immune system for purposes of research, diagnosis, and treatment. They developed monoclonal antibodies (MABs), cloned cells that, when introduced into the body, can be targeted to seek out sites of disease. The full potential of this breakthrough is still being investigated. However, MABs, which can be duplicated in limitless quantities, are already in use to combat disease. Milstein shared the 1984 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Georges Köhler and Niels Jerne.

Milstein was born in Bahía Blanca and studied at Buenos Aires.

From 1963 he worked in the UK at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, and later became joint head of its Protein Chemistry Division.

Milstein and his colleagues were among the first to determine the complete sequence of the short, low-molecular-weight part of the immunoglobulin molecule (known as the light chain). He then determined the nucleotide sequence of a large portion of the messenger RNA for the light chain. His findings led him to the technique for preparing monoclonal antibodies.