| Citation | Dr Kenneth B M Reid. Distinguished for his work on the protein chemistry and molecular biology of the complement system.
Ken Reid did some of the earliest important work on the activation of the alternative pathway of complement, demonstrating this was brought about by precipitates made with F(ab)'2 fragments.
He was the first to characterise that most unusual of complement components, C1q. He demonstrated in 1974 that it contained collagen-like sequences and thereby indentified the prototype of an important group of proteins, which also includes mannan binding protein, two surfactant proteins and conglutinin. He went on to identify the three chains of C1q and the sub-unit structure and subsequently cloned the genes for all three chains.
He then went on to study some of the regulatory proteins of the complement system, notably C4 binding protein and properdin and again succeeded in doing all the structural work to characterise these proteins fully. In the last few years he has returned to the C1q family of proteins and produced important work on the ability of mannan binding protein to substitute for both C1q aand antibody in the activation of C1 and on the structure of this protein and of the lung surfactant proteins A and D.
Dr Reid's work is characterised by thoroughness and accuracy. He is recognised internationally as one of the leading workers in the field of complement chemistry. As Director of the MRC Immunochemistry Unit since the death of Professor Porter he has proved himself an outstanding director of research. |