ISOBM, currently headquartered in Freiberg, Germany, is an international scholarly society for immunologists and cancer biologists who have an interest in tumor markers. It produces a monthly research journal, Tumor Biology, published by S. Kargers Publishers Inc. of Basel, Switzerland. The annual Abbott Award was established by Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories five years ago to recognize ISOBM members for their research and service to the society.
Goldenberg and Mach worked independently but along parallel lines to develop a technique for detecting cancers using radioactive antibodies specific for certain molecules--called markers--present on the surface of tumor cells. Goldenberg published the clinical paper that demonstrated the use of the technique (D.M. Goldenberg et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 298:1384-8, 1978), and Mach's group followed closely with a critical evaluation of the technique, demonstrating the specificity of localization of the antibodies (J.P. Mach et al., NEJM, 303:5-10, 1980).
"When we started ...
