Manfred L. Karnovsky, a world-renowned Medical School researcher who unraveled one of the body's main disease- fighting processes, died on Jan. 7 after a long battle with cancer.

Only five weeks ago, the Harold T. White Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Emeritus had celebrated his 80th birthday (Dec. 14) with a concert given in his honor at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Cambridge) that was attended by friends and colleagues from as far away as China and California.

As a scientist, Karnovsky earned international acclaim for his pioneering studies of how leukocytes (white blood cells) use oxygen in combating bacteria. He also became an authority on the biochemistry of sleep and enjoyed a productive, 40-year collaboration in this area with John R. Pappenheimer, the George Higginson Professor of Physiology Emeritus.

A member of the Medical School Faculty since 1948, Karnovsky achieved legendary status for his pedagogical skill and devotion. His tireless advocacy of curriculum reform and of collaborative and interdisciplinary teaching led him to help develop courses uniting elements of anatomy, biochemistry, pathology, physiology, and pharmacology. In 1997, he established the Manfred Karnovsky Fellowships to support graduate students in the Division of Medical Sciences.

Along with Elkan Blout, the Edward S. Harkness Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Emeritus, he proposed the institution of regular shuttle-bus service between Cambridge and the Medical Area.

Karnovsky also believed in maintaining personal connections to the College, where he taught popular undergraduate courses. Even in his final year of failing health, he reviewed submissions for the Hoopes Prizes, which honor outstanding undergraduate research projects. He was also an active member of the Kirkland House Senior Common Room.

Noted for his wit, Karnovsky delighted in composing verse for friends on special occasions. (His favorite poetic form was the clerihew, which incorporates a personal name into the rhyme.) At the Medical School during the holiday season, he often posted such impromptu inspirations in the elevator, a habit that earned him the nickname "Poet Laureate of the Lift."

His horizons stretched across the Pacific in 1981, when he and his wife ( child psychologist Ann Karnovsky) visited China to interview the first group of candidates in the CUSBEA exchange program, which brought approximately 60 Chinese graduate students to the United States annually for 10 years. Karnovsky helped develop one of the qualifying examinations and returned with his wife for interviews in 1982 and 1986.

Until a few years ago, Karnovsky served as secretary and corresponding secretary to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his sparkling minutes were the high point of many a meeting. His final scientific paper, published last year, joined more than 200 earlier papers.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Karnovsky studied violin as a child and retained a lifelong love of music. During the 1940s, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Witwatersrand, and a Ph.D. at the University of Capetown. Research took him to the University of Wisconsin in 1947. The following year launched his long association with Harvard, which included two terms as head of the Biological Chemistry Department. He received the White Professorship in 1965 and retired in 1989.

Karnovsky's honors include the Lederle Prize, the Gold Medal of the Reticuloendothelial Society, and the Special Recognition Award of the 1991 Phagocyte Gordon Conference. Away from the laboratory, he enjoyed collecting original prints and sailing the waters off Martha's Vineyard.

He leaves Ann Karnovsky, his wife of 46 years; son Daniel Philip, daughter-in-law Priscilla (Cohn), and two grandchildren, of Boston; brother Morris, the Shattuck Professor of Pathological Anatomy, of Newton; and sister Helene, of Sydney, Australia.

The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Manfred Karnovsky Fellowships program at the Medical School.