Richard Lerner and the Birth of Antibody Libraries

Richard Lerner had many achievements in his outstanding career. He will perhaps be remembered most for taking the helm of Scripps Research, following the founding by and tenure of Frank Dixon, and building one of the most successful biomedical research institutes in the world. Two Nobel prizes at Scripps in the past two years and one of them a second Nobel speaks for itself. But I want to cover what many consider Richard's finest scientific achievement- the development of a whole new approach to making antibodies that has been revolutionary to many aspects of basic science and medicine. I was very fortunate to be a part of that development and I give an account here and my memories of Richard during that time.