Sabin, Albert Bruce

Sabin, Albert Bruce (sā`bĭn), 1906–93, American physician and microbiologist, b. Bialystock, Russia, grad. New York Univ. (B.S., 1928; M.D., 1931). He emigrated to the United States in 1921 and was naturalized in 1930. He conducted medical research for several organizations before joining (1939) the faculty at the Univ. of Cincinnati college of medicine; there he became (1946) professor of research pediatrics. He conducted research on viral and other infectious diseases and developed (c.1959) a live-virus vaccine for immunization against poliomyelitis. The Sabin vaccine may be taken orally and provides longer immunity than the killed-virus vaccine. Also, the killed-virus vaccine protects only against paralysis, whereas the live vaccine guards against both paralysis and infection.