Macfarlane Burnet

Macfarlane Burnet was an Australian virologist and immunologist whose clonal selection theory explained how the immune system produces specific antibodies. He shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Medawar.

Clonal selection theory: An immune theory proposing that antigens select pre-existing lymphocytes whose receptors can bind them. Burnet’s account of antibody formation became the theory’s defining formulation.
Peter Medawar: A British biologist whose research on acquired immunological tolerance earned him the 1960 Nobel Prize with Macfarlane Burnet. Medawar’s transplantation experiments supplied evidence for Burnet’s theory of acquired tolerance.
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute: An Australian medical research institute founded in Melbourne in 1915. Burnet led the institute for decades, building its research program in virology and immunology.
Somatic hypermutation: A process that introduces mutations into antibody genes in activated B cells, enabling affinity maturation. Later discoveries refined how antibody diversity develops beyond Burnet’s original selection model.
Antibody: A protein made by B cells that binds a specific antigen and can help neutralize or remove it. Burnet’s theory addressed how the body makes antibodies with distinct specificities.
Frank Macfarlane Burnet: The full name of Australian immunologist Macfarlane Burnet. This alternate name is often used in biographical and historical sources.
Influenza virus: A group of RNA viruses that infect the respiratory tract and cause influenza. Burnet’s early research on influenza helped establish his reputation as a virologist.
Adaptive immunity: The antigen-specific immune response mediated chiefly by B and T lymphocytes and marked by memory. Burnet’s theory became a foundational explanation of specificity in adaptive immunity.
Lymphocyte: A white blood cell involved in adaptive immunity, including B cells and T cells. Clonal selection depends on lymphocytes bearing distinct antigen receptors.
Gustav Nossal: An Australian immunologist known for experiments showing that individual antibody-producing cells make antibodies of one specificity. Nossal’s work tested a central prediction of Burnet’s clonal selection theory.

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Australian of the YearBroader topic: He was the inaugural recipient of the award.