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Elizabeth Marian Press (5 October 1920 – 30 December 2008) was a British immunology, best known for her work with Rodney Porter on the structure of antibody. She worked side by side with Porter for 25 years, at the National Institute for Medical Research, St Mary's Hospital and in the Medical Research Council Immunochemistry Unit, and played a major role in him being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1972.
Press was 19 years old when the Second World War started, and joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS, "the Wrens"). After the war, she obtained a BSc in chemistry at Queen Mary College, London, and had research experience at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
Her studies on antibodies were important in determining the chain structure, and particularly the observation that more than one gene was involved in coding for antibodies. Her work led to Porter's Nobel Prize in 1972, together with Gerald Edelman. The structural studies on antibodies were essential in the chain of scientific discoveries which led to the development of monoclonal antibodies by César Milstein, and led to the subsequent development of monoclonal antibodies which are now widely used as treatment for many cancers.
Science described Press as "a 'major' yet largely unknown contributor to the field of immunology".
Although she only had a BSc herself, Press supervised the PhD research of others, including Nancy Hogg, now a group leader at Cancer Research UK.
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