Science will only fulfill its promises when the benefits are equally shared by the really poor of the world
— César Milstein, Un Fueguito
Milstein was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1975, was a fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge from 1980 to 2002, awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1980, won the Copley Medal in 1989, and became a Companion of Honour in 1995. In 1993 Konex Foundation from Argentina granted him the Diamond Konex Award, one of the most prestigious culture awards in Argentina, as the most important Scientist in the last decade in his country.
Milstein was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. His parents were Máxima (Vapniarsky) and Lázaro Milstein, a Jewish Ukrainian immigrant. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and obtained a PhD under Professor Stoppani (Professor of Biochemistry). In 1956 he received an award from the Sociedad Bioquímica Argentina for his work on kinetic studies with the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase. In 1958, funded by the British Council, he joined the Biochemistry Department at the University of Cambridge at Darwin College to work for a PhD under Malcolm Dixon on the mechanism of metal activation of the enzyme phosphoglucomutase. During this work he collaborated with Frederick Sanger whose group he joined with a short-term Medical Research Council appointment.
Milstein was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1975, was a fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge from 1980 to 2002, awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1980, won the Copley Medal in 1989, and became a Companion of Honour in 1995. In 1993 Konex Foundation from Argentina granted him the Diamond Konex Award, one of the most prestigious culture awards in Argentina, as the most important Scientist in the last decade in his country.
Milstein died early on 24 March 2002 in Cambridge, England at age 74 as a result of a heart condition from which he had suffered for many years.
Milstein himself made many major contributions to improvements and developments in monoclonal antibody technology—especially focusing on the use of monoclonal antibodies to provide markers that allow distinction between different cell types. In collaboration with Claudio Cuello, Milstein helped lay the foundation for the use of monoclonal antibodies as probes for the investigation of the pathological pathways in neurological disorders as well as many other diseases. Milstein and Cuello's work also enabled the use of monoclonal antibodies to enhance the power of immuno-based diagnostic tests. In addition Milstein foresaw the potential wealth of ligand-binding reagents that could result from applying recombinant DNA Technology to monoclonal antibodies and inspired the development of the field of antibody engineering which was to lead to safer and more powerful monoclonal antibodies for use as therapeutics.
