Donald Metcalf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald Metcalf (born  February 26, 1929 in Mittagong , New South Wales , † December 15, 2014 ) was an Australian physiologist , hematologist and cancer researcher . He worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research from 1954 to 1996 , including from 1965 to his retirement as head of department and deputy director of the institute, and from 1986 to 1996 as professor at the University of Melbourne . The focus of his research, for which he was awarded the Robert Koch Prize , the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research and the Gairdner Foundation International Award , was the regulation of hematopoiesis . He was internationally recognized as one of the most renowned hematologists and was one of the best-known scientists in his home country.

Life

Donald Metcalf was born in 1929 in Mittagong in the Australian state of New South Wales and received a pre-clinical degree ( undergraduate degree ) as a Bachelor of Medical Science in 1951 and, two years later, a degree in medicine as a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Sydney . He then worked as an assistant doctor at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney until 1954 , before moving to the cancer research department of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Parkville . Here he worked from 1958 to 1964 as head of the laboratory, during which time he completed his doctorate at the University of Sydney in 1961 . From 1965 until his retirement in 1996, he was Head of Cancer Research and Deputy Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute . In addition, he was Professor of Tumor Biology at the University of Melbourne from 1986 to 1996 .

Donald Metcalf was married and had four daughters. In 2000, his autobiography was published under the title "Summon up the Blood: In Dogged Pursuit of the Blood Cell Regulators" . In 2007, Film Australia produced a documentary about his life for the series “Australian Biography”.

Scientific work

The focus of research by Donald Metcalf, who published eight monographs and over 600 scientific publications in the course of his career , was the regulation of blood cell formation (hematopoiesis) and the role of cytokines in these processes. He contributed to the discovery of, isolation and characterization of proteins in which a colony stimulating factors ( Colony-stimulating factors are referred to, CSF) and by activation of intracellular signaling pathways , the proliferation and differentiation of various cells of the blood control. This research was fundamental to the introduction of GM-CSF and G-CSF as drugs for the treatment of cancer and haematological diseases. He also developed techniques for the cultivation of blood cells and made important contributions to the understanding of the role of the thymus in the formation and development of lymphocytes .

Awards

Donald Metcalf had been a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science since 1969 and a member of the Royal Society since 1983 , which awarded him the Wellcome Prize in 1986 and the Royal Medal in 1995 , and a foreign member of the American National Academy of Sciences since 1987 . He was also named Officer of the Order of Australia in 1976 and promoted to Companion of the Order in 1993 .

The prizes he has received for his research include the Robert Koch Prize (1988), one of the most prestigious medical prizes in Germany, the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize (1989), the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research (1993), the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1993), the Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal (1994), the Gairdner Foundation International Award (1994), and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (1996). In 2001 he received the Australian Prime Minister's Science Award, the highest national award in the field of science in his home country. In 2007 he received the “Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research” from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

The International Society for Hematology and Stem Cells (ISEH), founded in 1950, has been presenting the Donald Metcalf Lecture Award named after him since 1999 . In 2002 the Australian Post issued a stamp in honor of Donald Metcalf as part of the “Australian Legends” stamp series.

Fonts (selection)

  • Clonal Culture of Hemopoietic Cells: Techniques and Applications. Amsterdam and New York 1984
  • The molecular control of blood cells. Cambridge MA 1988
  • The Hemopoietic Colony-Stimulating Factors: From Biology to Clinical Applications. Cambridge and New York 1995
  • Summon up the Blood: In dogged Pursuit of the Blood Cell Regulators. Miamisburg 2000
  • Hematopoiesis: A Developmental Approach. New York 2001

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary on the website of The Guardian newspaper , December 16, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Metcalf, Donald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian physiologist, hematologist and cancer researcher
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Mittagong , New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH 15th December 2014