Elvin A. Kabat

Elvin Abraham Kabat
Born	September 1, 1914 Manhattan, New York,U.S.
Died	June 16, 2000(2000-06-16)(aged 85) North Falmouth, Massachusetts,U.S.
Alma mater	City College of New York(BS) Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons(PhD)
Known for	Discovering structure and genetics ofantibodies
Spouse	Sally Lennick
Children	3; includingJon Kabat-Zinn
Awards	Eli LillyAward in Bacteriology and Immunology (1949) Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize(1977) National Medal of Science(1991) American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award(1995)
Scientific career
Fields	Immunology
Institutions	Columbia University National Institutes of Health

Elvin Abraham Kabat(September 1, 1914 – June 16, 2000) was an American biomedical scientist and one of the founding fathers of quantitativeimmunochemistry.Kabat was awarded theLouisa Gross Horwitz PrizefromColumbia Universityin 1977,National Medal of Sciencein 1991, andAmerican Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Awardin 1995.He is the father ofJon Kabat-Zinn.

Elvin A. Kabat was the president of theAmerican Association of Immunologistsfrom 1965 to 1966, a member of theNational Academy of Sciences,and a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.He designed the eponymousKabat numbering schemefor numberingamino acidresidues inantibodiesbased on their variable regions. In 1969, he started collecting and aligning the amino acid sequences of human and mouseBence Jones proteinsandimmunoglobulin light chains.

Work

While working underMichael Heidelbergerat theColumbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons,Kabat studied thecarbohydratechemistry of embryonic-state-specific antigens and markers ofwhite blood cells.Additionally, he discovered the chemical basis of theABO blood group system.

DuringWorld War II,Kabat worked for theNational Defense Research Committeeon developing ameningitisvaccine, accuratesyphilistest, and detectors for neutralizing the plant toxinricin.

Kabat is best known for discovering the structural and genetic basis for the specificity ofantibodies.After showing that antibodies aregamma globulins,he usedoligosaccharidesof different lengths to interfere with antibodies attempting to bind to the blood plasma substitutedextran,accurately estimating the size and shape of antibody-binding sites before the development ofX-ray crystallography.

During his career, Kabat served on advisory panels for theNational Research Council,Office of Naval Research,National Science Foundation,National Multiple Sclerosis Society,American Foundation for Allergic Diseases,New York Blood Center,Roche Institute of Molecular Biology,Institute of Cancer Research,and Gorgas Memorial Laboratory, Panama. Additionally, he was a member of theWorld Health Organization's Advisory Panel on Immunology from 1965 to 1989.

Life

Kabat's parents arrived in the United States from Eastern Europe toward the end of the 19th century, changing their last name from Kabatchnick to Kabat. The bankruptcy of his family's dress manufacturing business during theGreat Depressionled to Kabat's life-long miserly attitudes toward personal and laboratory expenditures. Elvin began high school inNew York Cityat the age of 12. Graduating in three years, he started at theCity College of New Yorkat the age of 15, graduating in 1932 with a major inchemistryat age 18.

In January 1933, Kabat began working in Michael Heidelberger's laboratory by conducting routine lab chores at theColumbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons,introduced through Heidelberger's wife Nina, a customer of the Kabat family's dress business. Kabat started work on hisPh.D.in the Department of Biochemistry by taking night courses to graduate in only four years.

As part of a post-doctoral fellowship funded by theRockefeller Foundation,Kabat studied new methods ofultracentrifugationandelectrophoresisalongsideArne Tiseliusand Kai Pederson inTheodor Svedberg'sUppsala Universitylab in Sweden to researchImmunoglobulin G(IgG).In 1938, he returned to New York City to take up a position as an instructor of pathology atCornell UniversityMedical College, working there for three years.

Kabat spent the majority of his career as a faculty member of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Hired as a research associate by the department of biochemistry in 1941, he joined the faculty of the department of bacteriology as an assistant professor in 1946. Kabat became an associate professor of bacteriology in 1948, and a professor in the newly renamed department of microbiology in 1952.He was named the Higgins Professor of Microbiology in 1983, and Higgins Professor of Microbiology Emeritus in 1985.Aside from publishing over 470 articles and many textbooks while affiliated with Columbia University, he also taught future Nobel LaureateBaruj Benacerraf.

Following PresidentHarry S. Truman's 1947Executive Order 9835mandating loyal screenings of all federal employees, Kabat was reported by Swedish biochemistJames B. Sumnerfor supposedly being aCommunist sympathizer.Kabat was dismissed from his research position at theBronx Veterans Administration Hospital,interfering in his study of the histochemical localization of enzymes. Additionally, he was stripped of his passport and prevented from attending international conferences until theUS District Court for the District of Columbia's 1955 ruling inBoudin v. Dullesthat passports could not be denied over undisclosed information.

After being selected by theNational Institutes of Healthas a Fogarty Scholar in 1974, Kabat continued to conduct government research alongside his teaching at Columbia University well after his 1985 emeritus appointment, maintaining a working research laboratory and remaining an active member of the Department of Microbiology until his death.

Personal life

In 1942, Kabat married Sally Lennick, a young Canadian art student. They had three children, one of whom is the American developer ofmindfulness-based stress reduction(MBSR),Jon Kabat-Zinn.Since 2001, the families of Michael Heidelberger and Kabat have worked with Columbia University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology to organize a roughly annual Heidelberger-Kabat Distinguished Lecture in Immunology.