Dixon, Frank James

▪ 2009

      American immunologist

born March 9, 1920, St. Paul, Minn.

died Feb. 8, 2008, San Diego, Calif.

was the founding director (1961) of the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif., where he developed isotope tracer techniques that were used to track the dynamics of protein. This work led to the analysis and classification of several conditions, including serum sickness, glomerulonephritis, and immunologic renal disease. For his work on the latter, he was honoured with the 1975 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. Dixon also conducted fundamental work on analyzing and classifying tumours of the testes, pinpointing how systemic lupus erythematosus begins, studying the effects of viruses on the immune system, and exploring the causes of rheumatoid arthritis. He retired from Scripps in 1987.

* * *