Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1919 - Case Study Example

30 April Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1919 . Now the field of human immunity is considered to be one of the most important and paid much attention to. Many illnesses occur because of weak immune system. Immune system disorder is serious problem in modern medicine, thus many scientists currently implement a great number of investigations in order to find the ways of human immune system strengthening. Certainly, their research is based on the discoveries made by the great scientists in the past centuries.

Belgian doctor Jules Bordet is a noble prize winner who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for his discoveries in the field of human immunity. He is considered to be the one of the pioneers and the key figures in the development of human immunology. The seven years, which Jules Bordet spent working at the Pasteur Institute became the turning point in the development of his career and paved the way for his scientific triumph. He was able to discover that “bacteriolytic effect of acquired antibody is considerably increased in vivo by the existence of natural serum components” (FAQs).

Soon after joining the Institute, Jules Bordet began exploring the basic problems of human immunology in order to find the ways to defend human organism form different infections. (FAQs). In 1894, one of Bordet’s colleagues discovered that a guinea pig immunized against cholera rapidly died when injected cholera bacteria (FAQs). The discovery of Bordet was outstanding: as he later found out, such problems did occur to guinea pigs only when the bacteria came from a non-immunized pig (FAQs).

Moreover, the bacteriolysis did not take place when the antiserum and the bacteria were mixed in a test tube (FAQs). Finally, when Bordet heated the antiserum it immediately lost its power to kill the cholera bacteria (FAQs). In the series of the blood experiments that followed Jules Bordet by injecting red blood cells from one animal species into another species caused the rapid destruction of red cells of the first species by the serum of the second species (FAQs). Later on, Jules Bordet was able to systematize his knowledge of bacteriolysis and to create a general picture of how animal bodies defended themselves against foreign infections (FAQs).

On the basis of his discoveries, Bordet created the first complement fixation test, which could determine the presence of various bacteria in an individual’s blood serum (FAQs). The discovery of the test itself and related discoveries in immunology led Bordet to the best reward: in 1919, Jules Bordet was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for hid discoveries in the field of human immunity. He was able to determine how human body reacted to external bodies and infections: bacteriolysis “by the immune-serum derives from the cooperation of a body formed at the time of immunization, the bacteriolytic antibody, and of a substance present in normal serum and not under the influence of immunization” (Nobel Prize).

Today, Jules Bordet is fairly regarded as one of the pioneers and the key figures in the development of human immunology. Works Cited FAQs. “Jules Bordet Biography (1870-1961)”, FAQs. FAQs, 2005. Web. 30 April 2010. Nobel Prize. “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1919: Presentation Speech”, Nobel Prize. Nobel Prize, 1920. Web. 30 April 2010.