Rosalyn Yalow

Overview

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011) was an American medical physicist who, with Solomon Berson, developed radioimmunoassay (RIA) — a technique that combines the specificity of antibodies with the sensitivity of radioactivity to measure minute quantities of hormones in biological fluids. For this work, she received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing the prize with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally. She was the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in medicine, after Gerty Cori.

The initial target of the Yalow-Berson RIA was insulin. By injecting diabetic patients with small amounts of radiolabeled animal insulin and observing its binding to endogenous antibodies, they demonstrated that many patients with "insulin-resistant" diabetes had anti-insulin antibodies — a finding that upended clinical understanding of the disease. They turned this antibody-binding into a general assay principle: a fixed amount of labeled antigen competes with unknown amounts of unlabeled antigen for a limited amount of antibody, and the bound radioactivity reports on the unknown concentration.

The technique was initially controversial, because classical immunologists did not believe small molecules like insulin could elicit antibody responses. Yalow and Berson's insistence — and their refusal to patent the technique — allowed RIA to spread rapidly throughout biomedical research.

Background

Yalow was born in the Bronx, New York, to immigrant parents. She received her B.A. from Hunter College in 1941 and her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois in 1945, where she was the only woman in a department of 400. She joined the Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center in 1947, initially working with radioisotopes, and began her long collaboration with Berson in 1950.

Berson died unexpectedly in 1972, before the Nobel Prize could be shared. Yalow continued to work at the VA until retirement and was a tireless advocate for women in science.

Key Contributions

• Development of radioimmunoassay (with Solomon Berson), published in 1960.
• Demonstration of insulin antibodies in patients with diabetes, overturning contemporary immunology dogma.
• Extension of RIA to dozens of hormones, including growth hormone, ACTH, glucagon, and gastrin.
• Refusal to patent the technique, ensuring its wide availability.

Timeline

• 1921: Born in the Bronx.
• 1945: Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois.
• 1947: Joins the Bronx VA Medical Center.
• 1950: Begins collaboration with Solomon Berson.
• 1960: Publishes the first radioimmunoassay for insulin.
• 1972: Berson dies.
• 1977: Receives the Nobel Prize.
• 2011: Dies at age 89.

Modern Relevance

Radioimmunoassay and its direct descendants — immunoradiometric assay, ELISA, chemiluminescence assay, and other immunoassay formats — are the standard tools of clinical hormone measurement. Virtually every modern endocrine diagnostic — a serum TSH, a PSA, a BNP — traces its lineage to the Yalow-Berson approach.

RIA also enabled the neuroendocrine revolution. Many hypothalamic peptides could never have been characterized without sensitive assays to track their purification. The work of Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally depended directly on RIA-like methods. Yalow's insistence that quantitative biology required rigorous physical methods continues to shape biomedical research. See also first-radioimmunoassay and elisa-method.

Related Compounds

• Insulin
• Growth hormone
• ACTH
• Glucagon
• Gastrin