Background

Gaston Ramon was born on September 30, 1886, in Bellechaume, France.

Education

Ramon completed his secondary studies at the lycée in Sens, then entered the veterinary school at Alfort, where he became interested in research.

Career

In 1911 Ramonjoined the Pasteur Institute at its Garches Annex, of which he was named director in 1926. In 1933 Ramon was appointed an assistant director of the Paris Pasteur Institute, and, for several months in 1940, served as the sole director of the whole institute. From 1949 until his retirement in 1958 he was head of the Bureau of Epizootic Diseases in Paris.

Ramon made his most important discoveries during four years of intense research activity between 1922 and 1925. The first of these, the flocculation reaction, revolutionized the method of titrating anatoxins and microbial toxins. Ramon showed that when a zone of flocculation appears in a mixture of antitoxin and toxoid, the mixture is completely neutralized; the reaction, therefore, presented a simple way in which antitoxic serums might be standardized and simplified the use of these substances.

Ramon also demonstrated a method, based upon what he called “the principle of anatoxins,” by which a potentially strong toxin could be subjected to the combined action of Formol and heat to yield ananatoxin - a new substance that is itself harmless, although it retains the ability to stimulate the formation of antitoxins. This simple procedure had a number of practical consequences, of which the most immediate was the preparation of effective vaccines, new in both their composition and their mode of action, against diphtheria and tetanus.

Ramon also discovered the substances that he called “adjuvantes et stimulantes de l’immunité,” including calcium chloride, alum, and tapioca, which have the property of increasing the activity of antigens. These agents were first utilized in serotherapy laboratories to attain serums rich in antibodies, and they now play an important role in immunological research.

Achievements

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  Ramon's major achievements spanned the area of his research that was particularly fruitful between 1922 and 1925. During this period he managed to discover the flocculation reaction, which revolutionized the method of titrating anatoxins and microbial toxins. This reaction had tremendous value because it presented a simple way in which antitoxic serums might be standardized and simplified the use of these substances.
  
  Another Ramon's achievement was in the demonstration of a method by which a potentially strong toxin could be subjected to the combined action of Formol and heat to yield ananatoxin - a new substance that is itself harmless, although it retains the ability to stimulate the formation of antitoxins. The method was later applied in the production of antiviral vaccines, including those effective against aphtha and poliomyelitis.
  
  Ramon also discovered the substances that he called “adjuvantes et stimulantes de l’immunité,” including calcium chloride, alum, and tapioca, which have the property of increasing the activity of antigens. These agents now play an important role in immunological research. His investigations of these substances led Ramon to the idea of “associated vaccinations,” and he developed the method of combining several antigenic substances into one vaccine. This technique has been successfully applied in man and offers several immunities with a single injection.
  
  Ramon received 155 Nobel Prize Nominations but never received the prize.

Works

• book

  • L'anatoxine diphterique. Ses proprietes - ses applications 1928

Membership

Ramon was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and of the French Academy of Medicine. He was also a member of the International Society for the Study of Infectious Diseases where he served as a president as well.

Connections

In 1917 Ramon married Marthe Momont, grandniece of Emile Roux.

Wife:

Marthe Momont

colleague:

Jean-Paul Descombey

During the 1920s, Ramon, along with P. Descombey, made major contributions to the development of effective vaccines for both diphtheria and tetanus. In particular, he developed a method for inactivating the diphtheria toxin and the tetanus toxin using formaldehyde which, in its essentials, is still used in vaccines manufactured today.

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  1975