16 Aug 2021
Setting it Straight: The monoclonal antibody story 1: In the beginning, there were myelomas
Throughout this series, I’ve been mentioning monoclonal antibodies, the marvellous mAbs, and promising to write about them. Recently (#68) we talked a little about the way that the mAbs have been used by structural biologists as, probing the molecular shapes and chemical interactions that allow different proteins to attach to one another, they pursue the Holy Grail of rational drug design (#69). The story of how these wonderful immunoglobulin (Ig) reagents came to be available to us is a great example of a situation where smart researchers, who were working systematically to illuminate a basic question in science, ended up doing something that was of immense practical importance.