Berson and Yalow: The Assay That Could Count Hormone Molecules

In the 1950s, peptide hormones were invisible to ordinary chemistry. They circulate at billionths of a gram per milliliter. How do you measure something you cannot see, weigh or color?

The idea

Solomon Berson and Rosalyn Yalow, working at a Veterans Administration hospital in the Bronx, realized that antibodies can recognize a hormone with great precision. Mix a known amount of radioactive insulin with an antibody, add a sample containing unlabeled insulin, and the two compete for the same antibody sites. The more unlabeled insulin present, the less radioactivity gets bound. Measure the drop, and you can calculate the concentration.

The name

They called it radioimmunoassay, or RIA. The first insulin RIA was published around 1959-1960.

The credit

Berson died in 1972. Yalow received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally, whose own work on hypothalamic peptides RIA helped make possible.

Why peptide researchers still care

Modern ELISA kits are direct descendants. Even a three-residue peptide like KPV 10mg can be detected in a sample if an antibody can recognize it. Keep reading our library for more stories of the people behind the methods.

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For laboratory research use only. Not for human or veterinary use, and not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition. This article is educational and is not medical advice.