Curiosity & Collaboration: The Work of Michael Potter (1924–2013)

Potter wanted to study the early stages of tumor growth, but the tumors only grew in animals. Each of these containers holds the bones of one mouse. The labels indicate the mouse’s identifying number, gender, and colony, as well as what the mouse was injected with, such as “1 dose one Fruends adj + Staph” or “mineral oil only,” and when it was injected. Potter would inspect the bones for lesions about 90 days after tumor X5563 had been transplanted into the mice.

Finally, in 1986, Richard Nordan, a graduate student in Potter’s laboratory found that tumors could be grown in tissue culture, if they were grown in liquids from cultured white blood cells called macrophages. He identified the component in the liquid as interleukin-6, which is involved in the growth and differentiation of normal white blood cells. They had discovered a way to grow tumors in the laboratory and a new tool for scientists of many specialties that did not require the use of animals.