Pedro Cuatrecasas
= Pedro Cuatrecasas
{c}
{title2=1936–2025}
<Pedro Cuatrecasas> was a <biochemist> who helped develop <affinity chromatography> and studied <receptor (biochemistry)> biology. With collaborators including <Meir Wilchek>, he developed methods that used selective molecular binding to isolate particular <proteins> from complex mixtures.<Pedro Cuatrecasas by Alan R. Saltiel>[pp. 1–2, affinity chromatography and receptor research]{ref}
His 1970 paper, <Agarose Derivatives for Purification of Protein by Affinity Chromatography by Pedro Cuatrecasas>, explained the organizing principle: attach a suitable <ligand (biochemistry)> to an insoluble matrix, then exploit its reversible interaction with the desired macromolecule. The immobilized ligand supplies chemical selectivity, rather than requiring the target protein to be distinguished only by bulk size or charge.<Agarose Derivatives for Purification of Protein by Affinity Chromatography by Pedro Cuatrecasas>[opening text, reversible recognition and covalently attached ligand]{ref}
The method separates capture from recovery. Binding a target is useful only if the experiment can distinguish it from other retained material and recover it in a usable state. This makes <protein purification> a problem of controlled interactions as well as apparatus. Cuatrecasas also applied binding measurements and affinity methods to the <insulin receptor>, connecting recognition of a <hormone> to a physically isolable molecular component.<Pedro Cuatrecasas by Alan R. Saltiel>[p. 2, soluble binding activity and receptor purification]{ref}