Keith Porter and the Endoplasmic Reticulum

The term "endoplasmic reticulum" was coined by Keith Porter in an early EM study of the pancreatic acinar cells of the guinea pig. Porter showed through elegant experiments that the "cytoplasmic basophilia" long known to light microscopists was attributable to the presence of large amounts of what is now known rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) in active acinar cells. This was one of the first of the many significant discoveries made with EM in the revolutionary period between 1940 and 1960, and demonstrated beyond doubt that the EM was the key that would unlock many secrets of the cell. In the ensuing years the field of biology was transformed from its pre-World War Two moribund condition to a vibrant and growing area of research. The electron microscope and the early investigators who showed what it could do quite literally opened up a whole new world.

Porter is widely recognized as one of the founders of the discipline of cell biology, and of the Rockefeller Institute. He is one of the giants on whose shoulders stand the life scientists of today.

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