Merrill W. Chase
The Rockefeller University
September 17, 1905 - January 5, 2004
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Scientific Discipline: Immunology and Inflammation Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1975)
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With his discovery of the second arm of the immune system—cell-mediated immunity—immunologist Merrill Wallace Chase brought an end to the early-20th-century belief that antibodies alone protected the body from allergies and disease-causing pathogens. This finding laid the groundwork for subsequent discoveries that pinpointed B cells, T cells, dendritic cells, and other types of white blood cells as the body’s central safeguards against infection.
Born and raised in Providence, RI, Chase received a B.A. (1927) and M.S. (1929) from Brown University, where he had studied toxins liberated from enteric bacteria. In 1931, Chase completed his Ph.D. in bacteriology, also at Brown.
Following a year as a biology instructor at Brown, Chase moved to The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now The Rockefeller University) in 1932 to work with Karl Landsteiner, with whom he studied the biochemical specificity of the various blood groups. Another line of research, begun with John L. Jacobs and taken over by Chase in 1936, concerned skin-sensitization and allergy. This effort reflected a new science of immunochemistry emerging at Rockefeller, whereby antibodies were found to be proteins whose reactions depended on the chemical constitution of the antigen.
Chase carried out numerous related research projects over many years, spending the rest of his career at Rockefeller. During much of that time, he led an independent Rockefeller facility called the Immunology Laboratory. His landmark discovery of the passive transfer of sensitivity uncovered an entirely new class of immune responses: cell-mediated immunity. This work also showed that such immunity was not innate but adaptive—after being activated by an outside stimulus.
By the time of his retirement in 1976, Chase’s research had established a detailed understanding of the body’s reactions to foreign proteins and other allergenic substances.
Rockefeller colleague René Dubos referred admiringly to Chase as “Old Faithful” because he could be counted on to ensure that every experiment was sound. Similarly, Ralph Steinman said, “he was always constructive and genuine in his intent, and he had so much experience at his fingertips. He was a master of experimentation, attending to every variable and detail of dose, timing, route of administration, diet, even the season of the year.”
