Merrifield, Robert Bruce

Merrifield, Robert Bruce, 1921–2006, American chemist, b. Fort Worth, Tex., Ph.D. Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 1949. As a researcher at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (later Rockefeller Univ.), with which he was associated until his death, Merrifield developed a comparatively simple method for synthesizing polypeptides. The innovation, which won Merrifield the 1984 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, greatly facilitated the manufacture of insulin, interferon, and other drugs.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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