Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian Biologist

Ilya Ilyich (Eli) Mechnikov (1845-1916), Russian biologist, at work in his laboratory. In Italy in 1872, he studied the transparent larvae of starfish, noticing that some cells were able to engulf and digest foreign particles. He called these cells phagocytes'. Moving to Paris in 1888, he continued his search for phagocytic action in humans. He discovered that white blood cells have a phagocytic action. He later tried to apply the concept of phagocytosis to human aging. For his work on phagocytosis, Mechnikov shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

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Biologist Biology Coined Discovered Elie Gerontologist Gerontology Ilya Ilyich Immune Immunologist Immunology Laureate Mechnikov Metchnikoff Microscope Nobelist Phagocytosis Protozoologist Protozoology Recipient Zoologist Zoopahtology Zoopathologist

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