Michael Neuberger
Michael Samuel Neuberger (born November 2, 1953 in London , † October 26, 2013 in Edinburgh ) was a British biochemist and immunologist .
He was the son of the biochemist Albert Neuberger (1908–1996) who had emigrated from Germany and who, like him, was a Fellow of the Royal Society . Neuburger attended Westminster College in London and studied natural sciences at Trinity College of Cambridge University with a Master's degree. In 1978 he received his PhD under Brian S. Hartley at Imperial College London ( Transducing phages for analysis of gene duplications ). He investigated gene duplication and enzyme development in Klebsiella aerogenes using bacteriophages . For this he won a research grant from Trinity College in Cambridge and wanted to study at the LMB with César Milstein , who first let him study immunology with Klaus Rajewsky at the University of Cologne. In 1985 he became a fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was director of studies and from 2002 professor of molecular immunology. He also headed the Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry Section at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) and was Deputy Director of the LMB.
He first turned to the control of gene expression of antibodies in the laboratory of Milstein in Cambridge and discovered enhancers for the gene expression of the heavy chain of IgG antibodies. This made the development of monoclonal antibodies easier and he was also significantly involved in other ways in the development of monoclonal antibodies for therapy in human medicine. He developed transgenic mice that produced human antibodies.
He was also interested in the evolution of antibodies from the still quite unspecific IgM antibodies, the first response of the immune system to pathogens, to the very specific antibodies IgG, IgA and IgE.
Around 2000 he discovered that a special enzyme of the B lymphocytes called AID (activation-induced cytidine deaminase or activation-induced deaminase) converts the cytosine base in the genes of the antibodies into uracil (removal of an amino group ). This leads to hypermutation and class changes via the DNA repair mechanism . The development of the variety of IgG antibodies depends on somatic hypermutation of the IgV gene and class change in the IgC gene. The discovery contributed fundamentally to our understanding of the immune system and also has implications for the study of the mechanism of mutations in cancer.
He also investigated ABOPEC3 enzymes that are related to AID and have a similar effect on genetic material, which play a role in the defense against AIDS (attack on the single-stranded DNA that occurs as an intermediate stage in the multiplication of the virus in the cell) in newborns.
In 2003 he received the Göttingen Dannie Heineman Prize for the creation of molecular diversity in the immune system through somatic hypermutation
He was a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society (1993) and an external member of the National Academy of Sciences (2013). In 2003 he received the GlaxoSmithKline Prize and in 2002 the Novartis Medal (Novartis Lecture: Antibodies: a Paradigm for the Evolution of Molecular Recognition).
He is the brother of Judge David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury .
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Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Neuberger, Michael |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Neuberger, Michael Samuel (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British biochemist and immunologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 2, 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 26, 2013 |
| Place of death | Edinburgh |