Lerner, Richard

Richard M. Ransohoff Neuroinflammation Research Center, Department of Neurosciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA... 

In 1986, Richard Lerner and Peter Schultz independently reported antibody catalysis of the hydrolysis of aryl esters and of carbonates, respectively (Pollack et al., 1986 Tramontano et al., 1986). Reactions of this type are well... 

Having said this, I must pay special tribute to Richard Lerner and Sidney Brenner, whose counsel and support greased the tracks for my launching scientific endeavors that flew in the face of conventional wisdom. 

In 1986, Richard Lerner (Scripps Institute, La Jolla/CA, USA) and Peter Schultz (then at the University of California Berkeley, now also at the Scripps Institute), independently of each other, delivered proof of the concept that catalytic antibodies exist. 

Amelie Karlstrom, Guofu Zhong, Christoph Rader, Nicholas A. Larsen, Andreas Heine, Robertsa Fuller, Benjamin List, Fujie Tanaka, Ian A. Wilson, Carlos F. Barbas, III and Richard A. Lerner, Using antibody catalysis to study the outcome of multiple evolutionary trials of a chemical task, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 97 (2000), 3873-3883. 

Connery broke an ankle on the second day of production. Complications mounted and Saltzman argued that it would be better to put off shooting until Connery was healed. Other disputes had time to emerge and before production could resume, Connery left tbe project. (He later took Richard Burton s place as King Arthur in the stage production of Lerner and Lowe s Camelot and, eventually, starred in the film version as well.)... 

The creation of the first catalytic antibodies by Richard A. Lerner and Peter G. Schultz (both of Scripps Research Institute) represented an ingenious union of principles relating to enzyme chemistry and the innate capabilities of the immune system. In some respects catalytic antibodies are like enzymes, the protein catalysts we have mentioned many times already and shall study further in this chapter. Unlike enzymes, however, catalytic antibodies can virtually be "made to order" for specific reactions by a marriage of chemistry and immunology. Examples include catalytic antibodies for Claisen rearrangements, Diels-Alder reactions (such as that shown in the molecular graphic above), ester hydrolyses, and aldol reactions. We shall consider how catalytic antibodies are produced in "The Chemistry of... Some Catalytic Antibodies" later in this chapter. Designer catalysts are indeed at hand. 

We would like to thank Richard A. Lerner, our long-term collaborator in the aldolase antibody projects performed at the Scripps Research Institute, for his contributions. 

Richard A, Lerner Scripps Research Institute 10666 N. Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037, USA... 

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