Medawar (Medawar), Peter Bryan

February 28, 1915, Mr.. - October 2, 1987
English biologist Peter Bryan Me-Dawar was born in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) from Nicholas Medawar, an international businessman, and Edith Myuriel (Dowling), Peter Medawar, a native of Lebanon, was granted British citizenship. When the boy was four years old, the family moved to England, where M. remain for life. Receiving secondary education at Marlborough College, he in 1932. comes in Modlin's College at Oxford University.
At the undergraduate M. studied zoology and do some original research on the growth of tissues. Being in 1935. bachelor, he received two scholarships from the college for further studies at the university department of pathology under the leadership of Howard U. Flory. M. combine education with work load on the problems of tissue culture, mathematical theories of growth and morphogenesis in animals and regeneration of nerves. In 1938. He has withstood the special examinations, became a member Modlin College, where he worked until 1944. He then moved to College St.. John (Oxford) and spent two years as a senior researcher.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II M. engaged in the development of problems associated with transplanting tissues, ozhogo-tion branch of the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow (Scotland). Transfusion and antibiotics have helped save the lives of seriously injured with severe burns. But how to avoid spoiling the appearance of scars were not found. 'The easiest way would be transplanted to the burned area of skin flap from voluntary donors' - said later M. But the idea was absolutely hopeless, because the skin, transplanted from one person to another, simply do not take root because of the reaction of graft rejection.
Then M. developed methods to use their own undamaged skin of the patient for treatment of wounds Ozhegova. From the living skin cells were prepared by a kind of 'mash', which immediately superimposed on the wound or frozen, cut into subtle layers and then placed on the burned areas. However, none of these methods are not allowed to avoid scarring.
Continuing research in the field of transplantation, M. and his colleagues have not only experimented on mice and rabbits, but also worked with the people. They came to the conclusion that the body rejects 'alien' tissue due to individual differences in immunological characteristics. Tissue rejection was really immunologists-agency process, but was not associated with the formation of antibodies, as in cases when the body mobilizes all forces to fight infection or disease. The active factors in tissue rejection, as it turned out, were lymphocytes - a kind of white blood cells (leukocytes).
Research M. in immunology have shown that all mammalian cells with the nucleus, contain proteins that can act as antigens (substances that cause immunological reactions). Blood transfusion is essentially a variation of transplants possible by the fact that red blood cells (RBCs) do not have nuclei and, consequently, do not contain the antigenic protein. Structure and function of these proteins, called major histocompatibility antigens were studied Baruch Benaseraffom, Jean Jean Dausset and George D. Snell. That difference histocompatibility antigens ultimately leads to graft rejection. The only exception of identical twins who have identical histocompatibility antigens, and therefore with organ transplants from one another not suffer from adverse immunological reactions.
. Working on the transplantation of peripheral nerves, M
. invented a biological 'glue' - a concentrated drug plasma protein fibrinogen, which can be used to connect the damaged nerve endings in the skin grafts and other surgical. For this study M. in 1949. was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society - the highest honors that can be awarded a British scientist.
In 1947, after a year of work at the Oxford College Modlin, M. became professor of zoology at the University of Birmingham. His research on the basics of immunological rejection of transplants were so successful that, as later recalled Moscow, he and graduate student Rupert Billingham 'with the blessing of Dr. H.P. Donald tried to develop a reliable method for diagnosis of identical monozygotic and dizygotic fraternal twins'. By grafting the skin of calves, twins they intended to identify mono-or dizygotic animals. The exclusion of evidence of the fact that calves were fraternal, otherwise - identical.
Surprisingly, M. Billingham and found that twin calves observed engraftment of all skin grafts, even if the animals were of different sexes and, therefore, could not be identical. The explanation of these facts given in 1949. Macfarlane Burnet on the basis of work by Ray D. Owen of the California Institute of Technology, in which Owen four years ago showed that embryos of twin calves blood system are reported, providing a long exchange of blood cells before birth. Each of these new-born animal is usually part of the twin red blood cells, mixed with their own, throughout his life twins can maintain a stable share belonging to each other erythrocyte. According to Burnet, the work of Owen argued that the ability to distinguish between 'their' from 'others' is not inherited but is acquired during the life. In other words, . immune system can not automatically 'know', . Are these fabrics for their body or alien; at an early age, she classifies any antigen to its, . 'native', . and only with age the immune system becomes able to respond to 'foreign' antigens,
. Burnett predicted that the immunological tolerance can be identified in laboratory conditions, if subjected to the impact of alien animal tissues in the early stages of development.
Burnett was unable to experimentally confirm their prediction, but M. colleagues had sufficient experience of the transplants to subject his theory to experimental verification. In 1951, Mr.. M. moved to University College (London), where they were joined by graduate student with Billingemom Leslie Brent. Two years later, the three scientists published a paper which reported on the progress of experiments on the introduction of embryos and newborn mice tissues of unrelated adult mice. When the recipient mice grew up, they performed a skin transplant from the original donor, the operation took place just as successfully as if the grafts were taken from identical twins.
M. and Burnet was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960. 'for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance', although, according to the Nobel Committee, "its application in practical medicine - is the task of the future '. Sven Gard of the Karolinska Institute in a welcome speech on the occasion of awarding both appreciated the significance of the works of M.: 'They opened a new chapter in the history of experimental biology, . conclusively proved the possibility of direct study of immunologically active tissues, . which in turn created the conditions for further penetration into the mystery of nature and of such immune disorders of the immune process, . which lead to the development of serious diseases',
. In his Nobel lecture M. focused on the concept of 'immunological tolerance', which he defined as 'state of indifference, or nereagirovaniya on substance, usually stimulating immunological reaction'.
In 1962. M. was appointed director of the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill (London). He has been managing the biological and medical research projects and continued to lead research in the field of transplantation immunological problems. From 1968 to 1969. M. was president of the British Association for the Development of Science. Stimulated after suffering a stroke in 1971. leave the institute, he nevertheless continued to work actively in the Laboratory Center for Clinical Research at the Medical Research Council near London, and in 1975. was awarded an honorary director of the institute.
M. known not only for its scientific activities, but also the philosophical writings. His first book, 'The uniqueness of the individual' ( 'The Unigueness of the Individual', 1957) dealt with 'various aspects of the laboratory physiological studies related to the evolutionary problems'. In it he reflected on the issues of aging and 'natural death', . analyzed the works of French naturalist Lamarck, . whose theory of organic evolution argued, . that under the influence of environmental changes in plants and animals there are structural changes, . transmitted to posterity.,
. Two years later, his name became known to a wider audience through the radio series 'The future of man' ( 'Future of Man'), formed the basis of the book, published in 1960
. In these lectures, Moscow, analyzing the modern scientific achievements, looking for ways to help empower people to control the evolution of man. M. first predicted 'a population explosion', moreover, did so at a time when it was assumed that the population of Western countries reduced. Other well-known book by M.: 'The Art of finding an explanation' ( 'The Art of the Soluble', . 1967), . 'Induction and intuition in scientific thought' ( 'Induction and Intution in Scientific Thought', . 1969), . 'The Life Science: Current ideas in biology' ( 'The Life Science: Current Ideas of Biology'), . written by him together with his wife Jean C,
. Medawar and published in 1977
Trudy M. on the philosophy of science have had an enormous influence on the scientific community, and his ideas expressed with convincing clarity, were popular. However, some scholars and critics to his pollsters found thought M. (especially those which related to the progress and evolution) is wrong, but nobody questioned his extensive knowledge and analytical power of the mind. M. believed that the power of science not only in its inductance, ie. ability to generalize the results of many separate observations, but also in 'hypothetical deductive'. According to this view, a scientist at the start of the study, 'already has in mind an idea of what is really happening, - writes M., - and uses observations to test the hypothesis'.
In 1937. M. married Shinglvud Gene Taylor, a zoologist. In the couple had two sons and two daughters.
Among the numerous awards M. - Royal Medal (1959) and Copley Medal (1969) Royal Society of London. In 1952, Mr.. He was awarded the noble title, and in 1972. named a Knight of the Order of Honor. He was a member of the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal College of Physicians.