Merrill W. Chase (September 17, 1905 – January 5, 2004) was an
immunologist working at
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...
in New York City who is credited with discovering cell-mediated immunology in the early 1940s. While working with Dr.
Karl Landsteiner
Karl Landsteiner (; 14 June 1868 – 26 June 1943) was an Austrian-born American biologist, physician, and immunologist. He distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from ...
, Dr. Chase discovered that white blood cells, and not antibodies alone, were important instruments of the immune system. His findings laid the groundwork for later research that discovered the role of
B cells,
T cells and other types of
white blood cells
White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from mult ...
. Recognizing that other scientists were discovering multiple functions of the immune system, he established an independent Immunology laboratory at Rockefeller.
[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/chase-merrill.pdf ]
References
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1905 births
2004 deaths
American immunologists
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