Potter Curiosity

A Legacy of Shared Curiosity

Homogeneous Immunoglobulin Workshops

These happy scientists had just attended the first Homogeneous Immunoglobulin Workshop, which took place on the NIH campus in 1969. Filled with passionate debate, this exciting meeting had been arranged by Potter (above, third from the left) and Martin Weigert from the Institute for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, to discuss the newest results and ideas in immunoglobulin research. The annual workshops continued until 1979.

“The folks working and passionate about a problem would get together and just get up and present what they had to say, what they had to quibble about or squabble about…”
—Michael Paul Cancro, University of Pennsylvania

Kristian Hannestadt, Robert Ashman, Ed Goetzle, Henry Metzger, Alan Kaplan, Norman Talal and Bill Konigsberg (left to right) exchange ideas at the 1969 workshop. National Library of Medicine

Myron Leon, Elliott Osserman, and Michael Potter at the 1969 workshop. Although they were all in different organizations, the three had known and worked together for years. National Library of Medicine

Mechanisms in B Cell Neoplasia Workshops

Mike Potter and Fritz Melchers of the Basel Institute for Immunology (below) organized annual Mechanisms in B Cell Neoplasia workshops that were held from 1983-1999 either at NIH or in Basel. The workshops compared normal B lymphocytes and plasma cells with their malignant counterparts, B cell leukemias, lymphomas, plasmacytomas and multiple myelomas. They searched for genetic, molecular, cellular and physiological differences between normal and malignant cells — differences that might contribute and, hence, explain the changes from normalcy to malignancy. It was hoped that the identification of molecular genetic alterations in tumors might offer targets for intervention to reverse and prevent tumor development.

NIH Stetten Museum Courtesy of Dr. Beverly Mock, NCI

These drawings by Phyllis Saroff illustrate a collection of papers from a 1985 workshop focused on the genetic diversity of “wild mice” (natural living house mice) and their use in research. The workshop was held because it had become apparent as genetic research progressed, that inbred strains of mice offered only a limited window into the genetic diversity in mice. Edited by Potter, Joseph Nadeau, and Michael Cancro, the book amazed reviewers by cataloging available stocks of mice and their sources. Depicted are M. pahari, M. spretus, M. minutoides, M. cervicolor, M. caroli, M. castaneus, and M. saxicola from Potter’s NCI colony of mice. More information can be found on the Potter's Books Artifact page. (TODO: Link) From the permanent collection of the NIH Stetten Museum. Courtesy of Dr. Beverly Mock, NCI

Sharing Material Both Physical and Philosophical

Potter’s explosive influence helped direct the decades of cancer and immunological research to come. His knowledge, tools, and techniques enabled hundreds of other investigators in many fields to do their work. And he instilled a love of sharing ideas with a younger generation of scientists. He died of acute myeloid leukemia in 2013.

“He never refused a request for any materials his lab had generated, even if it was from someone doing the exact same type of studies that he was involved in. His attitude was that it was only advancing science that mattered and one could not be concerned with trying to limit access in any way to materials or reagents that would benefit experimental progress.”
—Stuart Rudikoff and J. Frederic Mushinski “Biographical Memoirs: Michael Potter,” National Academy of Sciences