Porter, Rodney Robert (1917-1985), was an English biochemist who helped determine the exact chemical structure of antibodies. Antibodies are protein molecules that protect the body from infection. Porter’s work related closely to research done in the United States by American biochemist Gerald M. Edelman. The two scientists shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
When Porter began his research in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the antibody molecule was too large for scientists to study it with the chemical means then available. Porter used a plant chemical called papain, also used as a meat tenderizer, to split the antibody into smaller pieces that he could analyze.
Like all proteins, antibodies are made up of smaller molecules called amino acids. Porter was the first to propose that antibodies are Y-shaped, with each arm of the Y consisting of two chains of amino acids. He also discovered that the arms of the Y have the part of the antibody that attaches to a foreign substance. Porter combined his findings with Edelman’s to determine the exact order of all 1,320 amino acids in the antibody molecule.
Porter was born on Oct. 8, 1917, in Newton-le-Willows, near Liverpool, England, and earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Liverpool University in 1939. During World War II (1939-1945), Porter served in the Royal Artillery, the Royal Engineers, and the Royal Army Service Corps. He took part in the invasions of Algeria, Sicily, and Italy. After the war, he studied biochemistry at Cambridge University, earning a Ph.D. in 1948. From 1949 to 1960, he did research at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. In 1960, Porter became a professor of immunology at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London. In 1967, he moved to Oxford University to chair the biochemistry department, where he served until his death on Sept. 6, 1985.
See also Edelman, Gerald Maurice .
