The award of medals by the President, Sir George Porter, at the Anniversary Meeting, 30 November 1989

The Copley Medal is awarded to Dr C. Milstein, F. R. S., in recognition of his outstanding contributions to immunology, in particular to the discovery of monoclonal antibodies and to the understanding of the role of somatic mutations in the maturation of the immune response. The thrust of Dr Milstein’s work has been to understand, at a molecular level, how the diversity of antibodies arises. With G. Brownlee he first proved that the variable and constant regions of antibody light chains are encoded in one messenger RNA molecule. His studies with G. Kohler on certain cell hybrids led to the immortalization of antibody secreting cells, and hence monoclonal antibodies, for which discovery they shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. He has applied these methods to the production of diagnostic reagents and the isolation of cell surface antigens, and has extended the technology to the production of bispecific antibodies, the first example of antibody engineering. Most recently he has developed an approach to studying steps in the antibody response, and has demonstrated the critical role of hypermutation in the maturation process. In all his work, Dr Milstein has shown an unusual gift in making major discoveries by unconventional routes, a gift that he continues to apply in his current work in immunology.