Download Karl Landsteiner - OldForensics 2012-2013

Karl Landsteiner
By: Evelyn Chavez and Jess Bautista
Brief Biography
• Born in Vienna on June 14, 1868.
• Studied medicine at the
University of Vienna and he
graduated in 1891.
• Became Professor of Pathological
Anatomy in the University of
Vienna in 1911.
• Married Helen Wlasto and they
had a son in 1916.
• Became Emeritus Professor at
the Rockefeller Institute in 1939.
• Died on June 26, 1943; two days
later after he had a heart attack.
Process of Immunity
• One of the first scientists to study
the physical processes of
immunity.
• Focused much of his research
around morbid anatomy and
immunology.
• Revealed new information
regarding the immunology of
syphilis and named the
immunological factors haptens.
• Laid the foundations for the cause
and immunology of poliomyelitis.
Process of Immunity (continued)
• Identified the agents responsible
for immune reactions, examined
the interaction of antigens and
antibodies, and studied allergic
reactions in experimental animals
• Discovered that some simple
chemicals produced an immune
response.
• Near the end of his career in 1940,
he and [Alexander Wiener]
discovered the Rh factor, which
helped save the lives of many
fetuses with mismatched Rh
factors from their mothers.
Identifying Human Blood Types
• In 1901, he discovered the blood groups.
– In 1930, he was given the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for
this discovery.
• Landsteiner suggested that when the blood of a single individual
human is transfused with that of another human being it might be
the cause of shock, jaundice, and haemoglobinuria that had
followed a number of previous attempts at blood transfusions.
• He classified the bloods of human beings into the A, B, AB, and O
groups in 1909.
– He also demonstrated that the destruction of new blood cells do not
occur when there are transfusions between individuals of groups A or
B. New blood cells are actually destructed only when an individual is
transfused with the blood of an individual belonging to a different
group.
• Landsteiner suggested that the blood groups can be used to decide
instances of doubtful paternity.
• He discovered the Rh-factor in blood with the help of Wiener.
Bibliography
• Karl Landsteiner – Biography. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved Sept 4
2012, from
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/
1930/landsteiner-bio.html
• Karl Landsteiner. Pbs.org. 2002. Retrieved Sept 4 2012, from
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/innovators/bio_landsteine
r.html
• Karl Lansteiner. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 2012. Retrieved Sept
4 2012, from
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Landst
einer.html