Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (
ELISA) uses
antibodies to detect
proteins and other different immunogens. Eva Engvall was one of the two Swedish scientists at
Stockholm University (the other was the principal investigator
Peter Perlmann) who conceptualized and developed the
ELISA technique.[3] Engvall and Perlmann published their first paper on
ELISA in 1971 and demonstrated its quantitative value using
alkaline phosphatase as the reporter.[4]
Eva Engvall applied the
ELISA measurement tool to parasitology [e.g., malaria[5] and
trichinosis[6]],
microbiology,[7] and
oncology.[8][9] At
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, where Engvall was a professor from 1979 to 2005, she developed a form of
ELISA, called “two-site”
ELISA, that was tailored to using then new monoclonal antibodies.[10] Various forms of
ELISA, including two-site
ELISA continue to be widely used in clinical medicine, veterinary and agriculture applications.
Engvall subsequently turned her interest to
extracellular matrix biochemistry. She discovered the affinity of
fibronectin to
gelatin (denatured
collagen),[11] demonstrating the potential of these two matrix components to form a complex in tissues. She also devised a simple, one-step purification of fibronectin by gelatin
affinity chromatography that enabled many advances in fibronectin research. The paper describing these findings has been cited 2,300 times in the literature. Engvall also discovered the second member of the
laminin family of matrix proteins, initially named merosin, and showed that mutations in this protein are the cause of the second most common form of muscular dystrophy.[12][13][14][15]
Awards and honors
Perlmann and Engvall were honored for their invention when they received the German scientific award of the "Biochemische Analytik" in 1976, 5 years after they had published their first papers.[16] Engvall received an honorary degree in Medicine from the
University of Copenhagen in November 1994. Engvall was elected a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2020.[17]
^Engvall, E.; Ruoslahti, E. (1977). "Binding of soluble form of fibroblast surface protein, fibronectin, to collagen". International Journal of Cancer. 20 (1): 1–5.
doi:
10.1002/ijc.2910200102.
PMID903179.
S2CID19792028.