Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 6, 2009

Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899–1985) was an Australian virologist best known for his contributions to immunology. He conducted pioneering research on bacteriophages and viruses at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, and served as director of the Institute from 1944 to 1965. Burnet's research on viruses resulted in significant discoveries concerning their nature and replication and their interaction with the immune system. From the mid-1950s, he worked extensively in immunology and was a major contributor to the theory of clonal selection, which explains how lymphocytes target antigens for destruction. Burnet and Peter Medawar were co-recipients of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for demonstrating acquired immune tolerance. This research provided the experimental basis for inducing immune tolerance—the platform for developing methods of transplanting solid organs. Burnet left the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 1965, and continued to work at the University of Melbourne until his official retirement in 1978. During his working life he wrote 31 books and monographs and more than 500 scientific papers. (more...)

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