4/ To understand how radioimmunoassays fit into the history of immunoassays see www.whatisbiotechnology.org/index.php/sc...

3/ 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.

2/ Originally developed to measure insulin levels, the radioimmunoassay 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.

4/ For more about the early history of diabetes and insulin see www.whatisbiotechnology.org/index.php/sc...

3/ Collip later managed to isolate the parathyroid hormone that regulates serum calcium through its effects on bone, kidney and intestine. In addition he devised a method for measuring serum calcium

2/ By experimenting with bovine pancreas in 1921, Collip found a way of producing insulin in a form that was suitable for clinical use in patients.

Palade crystalised his first enzyme, urease, in 1926. This he achieved by mixing purified urease with acetone and then chilling it. Using chemical tests he showed the enzyme was a protein. His work provided the first proof that enzymes are proteins.

3/ Thereafter she went to work for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in New York where she conducted research on streptomycin and other antibiotics. She founded the monthly publication 'Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy' in 1972 and published 'Penicillin: Meeting the Challenge' in 1985.

2/ Hobby first became involved in work on nonpathogenic organisms when doing her doctorate at Columbia University in 1935. From 1934 to 1943 Hobby worked for Presbyterian Hospital and the Columbia Medical School.

2/ In 1974 Palade was awarded the #NobelPrize for his innovations in electron microscopy and cell fractionation, which laid the foundation for molecular cell biology, and his discovery of the ribosomes of endoplastic reticulum in 1955.

2/ Sutherland helped identify cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP), a substance that acts as a secondary messenger in cells and has an important role in the actions of hormones at the cellular level. In 1971 he was awarded the #NobelPrize for his work.

2/ For more about Sanger's life and work For a detailed exhibition about Sanger's life and work see www.whatisbiotechnology.org/index.php/ex...

3/ In 1967 Wald was jointly awarded the #NobelPrize for Medicine for 'discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye.'physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye.'

2/ Wald conducted a series of experiments over 30 years which showed when exposed to light rhodopsin changes its form which triggers signals in a complicated network of optic nerve cells which eventually convert into visual impressions in the brain.

2/ Based on his discovery and subsequent work by others that animals produce antibodies against the diphtheria toxin, Roux managed to develop a serum therapy to combat the disease. The treatment was proven effective in a trial conducted at the Hopital des Enfants-Malades with 300 diseased children.