Merton Bernfield

Merton R. Bernfield (1938 – March 18, 2002) was an American pediatrician and cell biologist. In his postdoctoral work with Marshall Nirenberg, he made important contributions to deciphering the genetic code. He helped found the field of glycobiology, showed the dynamic nature of the extracellular matrix, and discovered the syndecans, a family of highly glycosylated proteins on the surfaces of cells that influence tissue repair, metabolism, the formation of tumors and the development of immune responses. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences.