Elie Metchnikoff
| Elie Metchnikoff | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | May 15, 1845, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | July 15, 1916, Paris, France |
| Nationality | Moldavian |
| Education | Kharkov University
University of Giessen University of Göttingen University of Messina University of Munich University of Saint Petersburg |
| Occupation | Zoologist, zhanatologist, immunologist and gerontologist |
| Known for | Phagocytosiscell-mediated immunity, gerontology |
| Notable works | |
| Website | |
Early life
Elie Metchnikoff (Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, 1845-1916) was a Russian-born scientist, born in Ivanowca, Kharkiv (current Ukraine) in 1845.
Education and career
He began his studies in Kharkov, continuing them at the Universities of Giessen, Göttingen, and Munich, later being named Professor of Zoology in Odessa in 1870. He had a Europe-wide life in Russia (mainly Odessa) and at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.[1]
He joined the Pasteur Institute in 1888 at Pasteur's invitation as Chef de Service there, studying inflammation and immunity in many species, both unicellular and higher orders.[2] During his 28 years at Institut Pasteur, he welcomed and supervised more than 100 young trainees.[3]
Phagocytosis was discovered by Elie Metchnikoff in 1882. It was Metchnikoff who explained its function, and alerted the scientific community to the importance of phagocytosis in immunity. He devoted most of his life to studying different aspects of phagocytosis and related immunological phenomena. It required 25 years of intense effort to achieve recognition of the phagocytosis theory, the first experimentally based theory in immunology.PMID 6750115
In 1882, while in Messina, Sicily, Metchnikoff observed that the introduction of a rose thorn induced the influx of phagocytic cells in starfish larvae.PMID 40754488
Ilya Metchnikoff and Paul Ehrlich shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine—Metchnikoff for discovering the major types and functions of phagocytes and Ehrlich for discovering the types of blood leukocytes, helping to uncover how to generate and use antibodies to protect against bacterial toxins, and formulating the receptor concept of antibodies binding to antigens.PMID 18463079
Notable/unique
He is considered to be the father of phagocytes, cellular innate immunity, probiotics, and gerontology.PMID 27288152
Over a century ago, Elie Metchnikoff theorized that health could be enhanced and senility delayed by manipulating the intestinal microbiome with host-friendly bacteria found in yogurt.PMID 24350221 In the early 20th century he associated the longevity and good health of Caucasian peasants with their consumption of a type of yoghurt containing strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus which were supposed to destroy the harmful microbiota of the intestines.PMID 34057052
He suggested that lactobacilli might counteract the putrefactive effects of gastrointestinal metabolism that contributed to illness and aging.PMID 27741152 His work in the field of lactic acid bacteria formed the basis for an entire industry of probiotics.PMID 29236381
Since he coined the word "gerontology", he would have been intrigued by the high mortality among the elderly, and by the concepts of immunosenescence and inflammaging.PMID 35040340
Metchnikoff and his team investigated inflammation in guinea pigs, rats, frogs; studied infectious diseases in monkeys, caimans, geese; investigated aging in parrots, dogs, humans; proposed hypotheses to understand age-associated senility using rabbits and humans; developed germ free tadpoles, flies, chicks; studied the gut flora in bats, horses, birds, humans; and popularized the use of probiotics as a tool to delay the deleterious effects of toxic compounds derived from putrefactive gut bacteria. He was also a philosopher and penned essays on human disharmony and on pessimism and optimism.PMID 27288152
His pasteurian laboratory published more than 200 papers in the Annales de l'Institut Pasteur.PMID 27288152
Death
Mechnikov was born in Russia in 1845 and died in Paris in 1916.PMID 7770473 Elie Metchnikoff passed away on July 15th, 1916.PMID 27288152
The longevity of Metchnikoff (71 years) at a time when average life expectancy of men did hardly pass 50 years certainly contributed to the acceptance of his teachings.PMID 28340696
Published works
Immunity in Infective Diseases (1905, Cambridge University Press; translated from French by Francis G. Binnie)PMID 26836137 The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies (1907, G.P. Putnam's Sons / William Heinemann)PMID 45-1,22-13,22-14 Essays on anthropology, theory of orthobiosis, and role of social and social-hygienic factors in solving problems of old age and life elongationPMID 8790921
