Abstract
The two leitmotifs of my scientific research were synthetic polymeric models of proteins and the structure of proteins as reflected by the three-dimensional conformation controlled by their amino acid sequence. This in turn led me to synthetic polypeptide antigens and to investigation of antibodies, ultimately resulting in the discovery of the determinant-specific genetic control of immune response and to the development of a therapeutic vaccine against the exacerbating-remitting form of multiple sclerosis. In protein chemistry I had two great teachers who became very close friends, Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir and Christian B. Anfinsen (Fig. 1), but in immunology I lacked the benefit of a great mentor, and so to some extent I was self-taught. Thus, I had to “figure out” many things myself.
Highlights
The two leitmotifs of my scientific research were synthetic polymeric models of proteins and the structure of proteins as reflected by the three-dimensional conformation controlled by their amino acid sequence
Of special interest was the spectrophotometric titration of polytyrosine and of copolymers of tyrosine with positively or negatively charged amino acids; this showed the influence of the vicinal electrostatic field on the ease of ionization of the phenolic hydroxyl groups [2, 3]
If proteins were used as such polyvalent initiators, we ended up with polypeptidyl proteins, whereas when polylysine or polyornithine were used, we had for the first time multichain polyamino acids, which became so important for me later as synthetic antigens
Summary
From the Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel 76100. The two leitmotifs of my scientific research were synthetic polymeric models of proteins and the structure of proteins as reflected by the three-dimensional conformation controlled by their amino acid sequence. This in turn led me to synthetic polypeptide antigens and to investigation of antibodies, resulting in the discovery of the determinant-specific genetic control of immune response and to the development of a therapeutic vaccine against the exacerbating-remitting form of multiple sclerosis. Anfinsen (Fig. 1), but in immunology I lacked the benefit of a great mentor, and so to some extent I was self-taught.
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