Niels Kaj Jerne

Niels Kaj Jerne (1911–1994) was a Danish immunologist whose theories explained antibody formation, immune selection, and regulation through networks of antibodies.

Antibody: A protein made by B cells that binds specific molecular targets and can help neutralize or eliminate them. Antibodies are the molecules Jerne’s theories sought to explain and connect.
Natural-selection theory of antibody formation: Jerne’s 1955 theory that antibodies arise from naturally occurring variants, with antigens selecting those that bind them. It replaced direct antigen instruction with selection among pre-existing antibody specificities.
Paul Ehrlich: A German physician and scientist who proposed early theories of antibody formation and immune specificity. Ehrlich’s side-chain theory was an earlier effort to explain antibody production that Jerne revisited.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: An annual international award recognizing major discoveries in physiology or medicine. Jerne shared the 1984 prize for theories concerning immune specificity and regulation.
Immune system: The cells, tissues, molecules, and processes that defend an organism against infection and other threats. Jerne’s theories concern how this complex system generates and regulates specific responses.
Antigen: A molecule or molecular structure recognized by an antibody or immune receptor. Antigen recognition anchors Jerne’s accounts of antibody formation and immune selection.
Clonal selection theory: A theory that antigen selects and expands lymphocyte clones bearing matching receptors. Jerne’s selection ideas helped prepare the ground for this account of immune specificity.
Max Delbrück: A German-American physicist and biologist who helped establish molecular biology and influenced the study of biological selection. Jerne’s intellectual environment connected immunological questions with selection principles associated with molecular biology.
Georges Köhler: A German immunologist who co-developed monoclonal antibody technology with César Milstein. Köhler shared the 1984 Nobel Prize with Jerne for work on immune specificity.
Autoimmunity: An immune response directed against the body’s own tissues or molecules. Network-based explanations have been considered in accounts of self-reactivity and its control.

Linked from 1 page