Garry Izrailevich Abelev (; 10 January 1928 23 December 2013) was a Russian scientist, Academician of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

(since 2000),Russian Academy of Sciences
(in Russian) Doctor of Biological Sciences, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation (1998). Laureate of the 1978

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

Biography

Abelev was born in Moscow in 1928. He studied at the

Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

(now MSU) at the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science from 1945 and graduated from the Department of Biochemistry of Plants in 1950. In 1955 he defended his

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

's dissertation. In 1963 he defended his

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

dissertation. He worked at the N.F. Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology & Microbiology from 1950 to 1977. He was hired as a preparator in the Biochemistry Department, then moved to the Department of Virology and Immunology of Tumours under the lead of

Lev Zilber Lev Aleksandrovich Zilber (; March 27 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. March 15 1894 – November 10, 1966) was a Soviet Microbiologist, micro-biologist, Virology, virologist, and Immunology, immunologist; academician of the USSR Academy ...

. Abelev worked his way up to the head of the laboratory, and after Zilber's death he became head of the department. From 1964 to 2006 he worked as a lecturer at the Department of Virology at Faculty of Biology at the Moscow State University. He has trained 22 Candidates and 4 Doctors of Sciences. In 1967 he received the title of

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

. He was a member of the

Russian Academy of Natural Sciences The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (Russian language, Russian: Российская академия естественных наук) is a Russian non-governmental organization founded on August 31 1990 in Moscow in the former Soviet Uni ...

(since 1990) and the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

. He also was an honorary member of the European Association of Cancer Research and a member of the Russian Supervisory Board of the International Science Counsil. In 1977, after a conflict with the directorate of the N.F. Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology & Microbiology, his department was transferred to the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center. Died in 2013 in Moscow.

Research

In 1963, in an attempt to find specific tumour antigens, Abelev's department discovered an embryonic protein synthesised by liver cancer cells,

α-fetoprotein Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP, α-fetoprotein; also sometimes called alpha-1-fetoprotein, alpha-fetoglobulin, or alpha fetal protein) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''AFP'' gene. The ''AFP'' gene is located on the ''q'' arm of chromosome ...

. On this basis, the Abelev-Tatarinov reaction was developed for immunodiagnosis of liver cancer and teratoblastoma of the ovary. In addition, the detection of α-fetoprotein in hepatoma opened a new perspective on cancer as a reverse reprogramming of an adult cell into an embryonic cell.

References

External links

1928 births 2013 deaths Russian immunologists Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Honoured Scientists of the Russian Federation Recipients of the USSR State Prize Academic staff of Moscow State University Moscow State University alumni Employees of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology Cancer researchers Soviet oncologists Soviet immunologists {{Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology