Dr. Phil Gold

In 1965 PHIL GOLD, professor of physiology, McGill University and the Montreal General Hospital, and his colleagues described the research, brilliantly conceived and resourcefully executed, that led to their discovery of CEA, the "carcinoembryonic antigen" of the human bowel. CEA is a cell-surface glyco-protein that is present in embryonic gut, but only in traces during later life unless the gut becomes cancerous. The discovery has had a major influence on cancer research during the last decade. Following it up, Gold himself was the leader in devising a blood test for detecting the recurrence of bowel cancer after primary surgery; in identifying other proteins that are common to foetal tissues and tumours; and in establishing biochemical kinship between these proteins and the antigens involved in rejection of tissue grafts.