Manfred M.
Mayer
Manfred Martin Mayer (15 June 1916, Frankfurt am Main – 18 September 1984, Baltimore) was a
German-born, American microbiologist and immunologist. He is considered the founder of complement
research.[1][2]
Biography
Manfred M. Mayer attended elementary school and secondary school in Germany. Mayer's family fled to
the United States in December 1933 because of political events. He graduated from City College of New
York in 1938 with a bachelor's degree and from Columbia University in 1946 with a PhD under the
supervision Michael Heidelberger with a dissertation on the chemistry and immunology of
phosphorylated serum albumin. Mayer published several papers on precipitin reactions and the cross-
reactivity of various polysaccharides in the envelope of Streptococcus pneumoniae . Mayer, with Elvin A.
Kabat, published the textbook Experimental Immunochemistry , which between 1948 and 1984 had two
editions and seven reprints.[1]
At Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Mayer became in 1946 an assistant professor, in 1948
an associate professor, and 1960 a full professor. At Johns Hopkins University, he elucidated the sequence
of 18 enzyme reactions of the complement system, demonstrated calcium and magnesium as cofactors of
the complement system, and described how lysis is accomplished by the complement system, which
inserts a pore into the cell wall of the target cell. Further work by Mayer concerned malaria and the
purification of poliovirus. Robert Armstrong Nelson and Mayer developed the eponymous Nelson-Mayer
test, which enables diagnosis of syphilis based on the demonstration of immobilizing antibodies that
occur in the patient's serum. The test greatly reduces false-positive diagnoses of syphilis.[3] Nelson and
Mayer also developed Nelson-Mayer basal medium for growing Treponema pallidum bacteria in vitro.[4]
He and his wife Elinor S. Mayer (1921–2007) were married in 1943 and had four sons. Manfred Mayer's
students include Teruko Ishizaka.[1]
Awards and honors
1953 — Kimble Award for Methodology
1957 — Selman Waksman Lectureship Award
1969 — Honorary Doctor of Medical Science, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz,
Germany
1974 — Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award, American Association of Blood Banks
1976 — Albion O. Bernstein Award, Medical Society of the State of New York
1976/1977 — President of the American Association of Immunologists
1979 — Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
1982 — Gairdner Foundation International Award, Toronto, Canada
References
1. Austen, K. Frank (1990). "Manfred Martin Mayer: June 15, 1916-September 18, 1984" (http
s://www.nap.edu/read/1652/chapter/14). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of
Sciences. 59: 257–280. PMID 11616159 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11616159).
2. Rabat EA (January 1985). "Obituary: Manfred Martin Mayer June 15, 1916–September 18,
1984" (https://www.jimmunol.org/content/134/1/654). J Immunol. 134 (1): 654–656.
doi:10.4049/jimmunol.134.1.654 (https://doi.org/10.4049%2Fjimmunol.134.1.654).
ISSN 0022-1767 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0022-1767). PMID 3880578 (https://pubm
ed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3880578). S2CID 23539793 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:2
3539793). (subscription required)
3. Nelson, Robert A.; Mayer, Manfred M. (1949). "Immobilization of Treponema pallidum in
vitro by antibody produced in syphilitic infection" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC2135874). Journal of Experimental Medicine. 89 (4): 369–393.
doi:10.1084/jem.89.4.369 (https://doi.org/10.1084%2Fjem.89.4.369). PMC 2135874 (https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2135874). PMID 18113911 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/18113911).
4. Manfred Martin Mayer (http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2519.html) at
whonamedit.com
External links
K. Frank Austen, "Manfred Martin Mayer", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of
Sciences (1990) (http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/
mayer-manfred.pdf)
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