John Franklin Enders

John Franklin Enders tied the nuptial knot with Sarah Frances Bennett in 1927. The couple was blessed with two children, John Ostrom Enders II and Sarah Enders.

After the death of his wife in 1943, Enders married Carolyn B. Keane of Newton Center, Massachusetts. From her, he had a son William Edmund Keane.

Enders breathed his last on September 8, 1985, in Waterford, Connecticut, at the age of 88.

John Franklin Enders was born in an affluent family, on February 10, 1897, in West Hartford, Connecticut, to John Ostrom Enders and Harriet Goulden Enders. His father was the CEO of the Hartford National Bank and left Enders $19 million upon his death.

Young Enders was educated at the Noah Webster School in Hartford. He later attended St Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire.

Enders enrolled at the Yale University for his graduation. However, he left the same during World War I to join the United States Army Air Corps as a flight instructor and lieutenant.

After completing his services at World War I, Enders returned to Yale to complete his graduation degree. At Yale, he became a member of Scroll and Key as well as Delta Kappa Epsilon.

Upon gaining his graduation degree, Enders tried his hand at several fields. He entered real estate business but it did not interest him much. He then enrolled at Harvard university to study English literature, Germanic and Celtic language so as to become a teacher but left it half-way.

Following his doctorate degree, John Franklin Enders embarked on a career in bacteriology. He joined his alma mater Harvard University as a faculty member. He was appointed as an assistant in the department of bacteriology and immunology.

During his early years at Harvard, Enders studied the elucidation of certain factors related to bacterial virulence and the resistance of the host organism. Together with Ward, Shaffer and Wu, he explained the inhibitory effect of the type specific capsular polysaccharides of Pneumococcus upon the phagocytic process. This work discovered a new form of Type I polysaccharide and produced evidence that complemented a catalytic-like part in the opsonization of bacteria by specific antibody.

In 1935, Enders was promoted to the position of assistant professor at Harvard University. Three years later, he undertook the study of some of the mammalian viruses. In 1941, he studied the virus of the mumps.

Enders’ first major breakthrough was the development of techniques for detection of antibodies to mumps virus. With the help of fellow researchers, he showed that virus could be grown in chick embryos and tissue culture. It was on the basis of the work that diagnosis of the disease and a skin test for its determination was developed. The work showed that mumps often occurred in a form that is unapparent, but conferred a resistance which was as effective as that conferred by the visible disease. The result of the studies provided the basis for the development of preventive measures against the disease. Today, even an attenuated live-virus vaccine is available for the disease.

In 1941, Enders was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in Harvard University. During World War II, he served as a civilian consultant on epidemic diseases to the Secretary of War.

Enders’ contribution in the field of virology and immunology has been immense. He is credited with cultivating the poliomyelitis virus in non-nervous tissue cultures, which served as a preliminary step to the development of the polio vaccine in 1953 by Dr Jonas Salk. Other important contribution made by him was isolating measles virus and in turn developing the measles vaccine.