Malcolm Saul Steinberg (June 1, 1930 - February 7, 2012) was an American biologist^[1] who proposed the differential adhesion hypothesis as a mechanism explaining cell sorting during embryogenesis and cancer.^[2][3][4][5]

Steinberg proposed that when cells form distinct tissues, specific cell-cell adhesion between cells from the same tissue can drive the separation. He further proposed that a difference in level of cell adhesion molecules expression between two cell types was sufficient to drive the separation.^[6] He confirmed these predictions in a model system in which adhesion between cells of a cultured line of mouse cells was controlled by genetic expression levels of cadherin.^[7]

Steinberg pioneered work in characterizing the physical properties of cells and tissues. He proposed that cell-cell adhesion drives tissue rounding up and, comparing tissues to liquids, he proposed that tissues have a surface tension. To measure tissue surface tension, he participated in building a compression device for rounded cell aggregates,^[8][9] and in sessile droplet experiments in which aggregates of cells were centrifuged at 37 degrees until their shapes reached equilibrium.^[10][11]

Later experiments led him to conclude that differential adhesion, and an adhesion gradient, guide the salamander pronephric duct to the cloaca during embryonic development.^[12]

Steinberg completed his BS at Amherst College in 1952, his PhD in zoology at the University of Minnesota in 1956, was a professor of biology at Johns Hopkins University from 1958 to 1966, and transferred to Princeton University in 1966, becoming professor emeritus in 2005.

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