Rupert E. Billingham

Rupert E. Billingham

Rupert Everett Billingham (October 15 1921 – November 16 2002) was an English biologist considered by many to have founded the fields of reproductive immunology and organ transplantation. [Hitt, E. 2002. Rupert E. Billingham dies. "The Scientist" 3(1):20021206-02]

Billingham was born in Warminster, Wiltshire. He completed his BSc in zoology at Oxford University. His studies were interrupted by the War, he completed war time service in the Royal Navy. He returned to Oxford in 1946 and commenced study under Peter Medawar, during his PhD he worked on skin grafts in guinea pigs, demonstrating that when black skin was grafted onto white skin, the white skin became black. They proposed that the change was due to the dissemination of a self replicating agent from normal melanocytes into non-melanin-producing cells; but this hypothesis was wrong and they later showed that pigment spread was due to cell migration. [Brent, L.B. 2005. [http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/bio_mems/Billingham%20press.pdf#search=%22Rupert%20%20Billingham%22 Rupert Everett Billingham] . "Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society"]

In 1947 Medawar accepted the chair of zoology at the University of Birmingham. He continued to work on transplantation with Medwar, and in 1951 they both accepted positions at the University College London. Together they demonstrated immune tolerance as proposed by Frank Macfarlane Burnet. Burnet and Medawar received the Nobel Prize for this work in 1960. They also worked on graft-versus-host disease.

Billingham emigrated to the United States in 1959, and took a position at the Wistar Institute and in 1970 moved to the University of Texas. He died following a long illness with Parkinson's disease.

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Billingham (surname) — Billingham is a surname, and may refer to:* Angela Billingham, Baroness Billingham (born 1939), British Labour politician * Jack Billingham (born 1943), former Major League Baseball pitcher * John Billingham (born 1930), former director of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Billingham, Rupert Everett — ▪ 2003       British born American immunologist and transplant researcher (b. Oct. 15, 1921, Warminster, Eng. d. Nov. 16, 2002, Boston, Mass.), was a pioneer in the field of immunologic theory and transplant science. Under his mentor, zoologist… …   Universalium

  • Peter Medawar — Sir Peter Medawar Born 28 February 1915(1915 02 28) Petrópolis, Brazil …   Wikipedia

  • Frank Macfarlane Burnet — Infobox Scientist name = Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet box width = image width =170px caption = At the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, 1945 birth date = birth date|1899|9|3|df=y birth place = Traralgon, Victoria death date = Death date and… …   Wikipedia

  • Frank Macfarlane Burnet — Mac Burnet à l Institut Walter et Eliza Hall de Melbourne, 1945 Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet (Traralgon, Australie, 3 septembre 1899 Port Fairy, id., 31 août 1985), également connu sous le no …   Wikipédia en Français

  • City of Oxford High School for Boys — Established 1881 Closed 1966 Type Grammar school …   Wikipedia

  • List of University of Birmingham people — This is a list of notable alumni and staff of the University of Birmingham:taff*The Rt. Hon.Joseph Chamberlain Former and First Chancellor who helped set up the University of Birmingham, Lord Mayor of Birmingham and father of Sir Austen… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year Honours 1997 — The New Year Honours 1997 for the United Kingdom and Hong Kong were announced on 31 December, 1996, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1997.The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new… …   Wikipedia

  • Crime Thriller Awards — ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards logo Awarded for The best in crime and thriller fiction Presented by Crime Writers Association (2009) …   Wikipedia

  • 1997 New Year Honours — The New Year Honours 1997 for the United Kingdom and Hong Kong were announced on 31 December 1996, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1997. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”