June Almeida

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June Dalziel Almeida (born October 5, 1930 in Glasgow ; † December 1, 2007 in Bexhill ) was a Scottish virologist specializing in transmission electron microscopy (TEM). She invented immunological reactions used to identify viruses under the TEM. Almeida pioneered the rapid diagnosis and course of viral infections. She was the first to show pictures of coronaviruses .

life and work

June Hart, that was her maiden name, finished school in June 1947. Her parents, Harry Leonard Hart (bus driver) and Jane Dalziel, could not pay for their studies. So she started at the age of sixteen as a technical assistant for histopathology at the Royal Hospital in Glasgow. When she moved to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, she met Enriques Rosario Almeida (1913–1993), an artist from Venezuela. The couple married on December 11, 1954 and immigrated to Canada. In Toronto , at the Ontario Cancer Institute, June got a job as an electron microscopy assistant. Soon she achieved something extraordinary: she did not limit herself to handling the device, but communicated her discoveries in scientific journals.

One visitor, AP Waterson, was impressed with her work and tried to recruit her. This personal contact led to an initial collaboration. With him she investigated the causes of colds , which were then called myxoviruses . Eventually, in 1967, Almeida accepted and returned to London to work with Waterson at the Royal Post Graduate Medical School. At the latest there she was able to develop fully and received her doctorate based on her publications on the DSc (Doctor of Natural Sciences).

Immuno-electron microscopy

The technology invented by Almeida was as original as it was simple. She mixed virus samples with antibodies whose reactivity with the viruses she knew. The antibodies occupy the viruses and make the latter recognizable in the TEM even in low concentrations.

Almeida achieved great success with the first presentation of the rubella virus . This is the cause of malformations in the child if the mother becomes infected with it in the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Almeida also worked with David Tyrrell, director of the Common Cold Research Center: an institution in Salisbury that researches common colds. The causative viruses could not be cultivated in the conventional way. But Tyrrell had developed a new method with organ cultures. So not only was the cause of the common cold to be investigated, but previously unknown viruses were also discovered. Among them were the coronaviruses , which caused novel infections of the respiratory tract. The journal "Nature" reported on the naming in the following year (1968).

Viruses can act in three ways in affected organisms. 1. Lytic : The virus destroys the host cell. 2.  Carcinogen : The virus turns the host cell into a malignant tumor cell. 3.  Latent : The virus remains in the host cell without causing any discernible symptoms. On the third possibility, diseases of the nervous system were examined.

No less important was the joint research with Waterson on hepatitis B ; hepatitis is one of the most common viral infections worldwide. Examining the antigen encouraged the authors to propose a vaccine. The Norovirus was identified with the Almeida method , initially published under the name Norwalk virus. This and similar viruses cause gastroenteritis , a not uncommon infection of the digestive tract in adults.

literature

  • June D Almeida, P Atanasiu, DW Bradley, PS Gardner, JE Maynard, AW Schuurs, A Voller, RH Yolken: Manual for rapid laboratory viral diagnosis. WHO Offset Publication 49, Geneva 1979. Virus Diagnostic Manual.
  • June D Almeida, AP Waterson: Some implications of a morphologically oriented classification of viruses. In: Arch Gesamt Virusforschung 32, 1970: 66-72. → The bibliography cites numerous publications by Almeida. PDF.
  • June D Almeida, Allan P Goffe: Antibody to wart virus in human sera demonstrated by electron microscopy and precipitin tests. In: Lancet 286, 7424, 1965: 1205-1207. DOI 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (65) 90633-1.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Reparation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joyce Almeida: June Almeida (née Hart). In: British Medical J 336, 7659, 2008: p. 1511. Obituary by daughter Joyce.
  2. ^ Steven Brocklehurst: The woman who discovered the first coronavirus. In: BBC Scotland News. April 15, 2020. Article online with photo: June Almeida at TEM, Toronto 1963.
  3. ↑ JE Banatvala: Almeida, June Dalziel (1930-2007). In: Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011. CV.
  4. ↑ Allan F Howatson, June D Almeida: An electron microscope study of polyoma virus in hamster kidney. In: J Biophys Biochem Cytol 7, 4, 1960: 753-760. PDF.
  5. ↑ June Almeida, Bernhard Cinader, Allan Howatson: The structure of antigen-antibody complexes: A study by electron microscopy. In: J Exptl Med 118, 1963: 327-340. PDF.
  6. ↑ June D Almeida: A classification of virus particles based on morphology. In: Can Med Assoc J 89, 1963: 787-798. PDF.
  7. ^ A Waterson, June Almeida: Taxonomic implications of 'Myxovirus'. In: Nature 210, 5041, 1966: 1138-1140. DOI 10.1038 / 2101138a0.
  8. ↑ June D Almeida, AP Waterson: The morphology of virus-antibody interaction. In: Advanc Virus Res 15, 1969, 307-338. PDF. → S 307: "Immune electron microscopy was first developed specifically for visualizing the interaction of antibody molecules with virus particles."
  9. ↑ David AJ Tyrrell: A virologist's approach to respiratory viruses. In: J Roy Col Physicians Lond 2, 2, 1968: 162-168. PDF.
  10. ↑ June D Almeida, David AJ Tyrrell: The morphology of three previously uncharacterized human respiratory viruses that grow in organ culture. In: J General Virology 1, 2, 1967: 175-178.
  11. ^ Sydney Combs: She discovered coronaviruses decades ago - but got little recognition. In: National Geographic June 2020. Articles online.
  12. ↑ News & Views: Virology: Coronaviruses. In: Nature 220, November 16, 1968: 650.
  13. ^ AP Waterson, June D Almeida: Virological aspects of neurological disease. In: Postgrad Med J 45, 524, 1969: 351-360. → Table 2: Viruses that cause acute infections of the human nervous system. PDF.
  14. ↑ June D Almeida, AP Waterson: Immune complexes in hepatitis. In: Lancet 2, 7628, 1969: 983-986.
  15. ↑ June D Almeida, AP Waterson: Hepatitis B antigen - an incomplete history. In: Am J Med Sci 1975 Jul-Aug; 270, 1975: 105-114.
  16. ^ AP Waterson, June D Almeida, PM Weeple, DF Hawkins, M Cummins: Hepatitis B antigen-positive obstetric patients. In: Br J Obstet Gynaecol 84, 9, 1977: 674-678.
  17. ↑ Albert Zaven Kapikian, Richard G Wyatt, Raphael Dolin, Thomas S Thornhill, Anthony R Kalica, Robert M Chanock: Visualization by immune electron microscopy of a 27-nm particle associated with acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis. In: J Virol 10, 5, 1972: 1075-1081. PDF.
  18. ↑ Albert Zaven Kapikian: The discovery of the 27-nm Norwalk virus: An historic perspective. In: J Infectious Diseases 181, Suppl 2, 2000: S295-S302.
personal data
SURNAME Almeida, June
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Almeida, June Dalziel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish virologist
DATE OF BIRTH 5th October 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 2007
Place of death Bexhill