This article is part of overlookeda series of obituaries beginning in 1851 about prominent people whose deaths were not reported in the Times.
Yvonne Barr was a 31-year-old research scientist hired in 1963 by a London pathologist looking for a new challenge: helping find the cause of unusually large facial tumors in Ugandan children. I was an assistant.
Pathologist Anthony Epstein was almost certain that the tumor was caused by a virus, but was having trouble proving his hypothesis.
By then, Barr was working on the bacterium that causes Hansen's disease, commonly called Hansen's disease, and other projects, and was known for his excellent research skills.
Although Epstein had mastered cell culture techniques that basically promote cell growth under controlled conditions, he was having trouble keeping cells growing in the lab.
“This was the key to the study: growing cells that would continue to grow and become experimental specimens,” said Gregory J. Morgan, author of Cancer Virus Hunters: A History of Tumor Virology (2022). ” he said. “Yvonne Barr had experience in producing and managing cell cultures before coming to Epstein's lab in 1963, and this was probably why she was hired.”
Together they would achieve one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century. It was the first virus associated with causing cancer in humans and became known as the Epstein-Barr virus.
Epstein's death last month was noted by news outlets around the world. But when Barr died in 2016, few newspapers reported on it. Perhaps because shortly after the virus was discovered in 1964, she pivoted to her quiet career as a teacher, which she had pursued for decades.
Barr first looked for a research job in Australia, where she and her husband had immigrated, but were unable to find one.
“Her case illustrates the pervasive sexism in mid-20th century biomedicine,” said Morgan, associate professor of history and philosophy of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. And she couldn't get a regular job. ”
Yvonne Margaret Barr was born on March 11, 1932 in Carlow, Ireland, about an hour southwest of Dublin, the eldest of Robert and Gertrude Barr's four children. Her father was a bank manager.
She graduated from Banbridge Academy in Northern Ireland as a principal. This position is given to a student who has been designated as a leader or mentor. She shined again at Trinity College, Dublin, where she gained a degree in zoology and graduated with honors in 1953.
She acquired experimental skills through her work as a research assistant from 1955 to 1962. She worked on the bacteria that causes leprosy at the National Institute of Medical Research in London, where she learned cell growth techniques known as cell culture.
My second position was as a research assistant at the University of Toronto, which gave me further opportunities to hone my experimental skills on canine distemper virus. Canine distemper virus is a pathogen that can cause serious and often fatal infections in dogs and other animals.
But while Barr mastered cell culture techniques, Epstein, who worked at London's Middlesex Hospital Medical School, struggled with them, Morgan said.
In 1963, Epstein received a $45,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health and hired electron microscopy experts Bert and Bert Achon. Both men earned their doctorates while working in Epstein's lab.
Epstein was already working with Dennis Burkitt, a Ugandan surgeon and Presbyterian missionary, who sent tissue samples to London from biopsies of facial tumors plaguing Ugandan children.
The cancer was known as Burkitt's lymphoma, and because the tumor occurred in a specific location on the equator, Dr. Epstein strongly suspected a viral cause. What he needed was a more effective way to grow cells that might harbor the virus.
Barr's technique allowed the team to maintain clusters of cells. Their study is the first to use cell culture techniques to study human B cells affected by Burkitt's lymphoma, Morgan said.
In July 2022, The Irish Times reported that Barr explained why he thought Epstein's early efforts were unsuccessful. “By the time I arrived at Middlesex, I had gained a lot of experience in tissue culture,” she writes in her undated memoir. “I felt like Epstein was discarding normal cells. I applied my method, washing the cells every few days and giving them fresh food.”
Tumor samples taken from Burkitt initially seemed doomed after their delivery was delayed due to fog at Heathrow Airport, but they turned out to have conclusive evidence of the causative virus.
“One day some of them glowed and we thought it was a sign of life,” Barr told a conference in London in 2014 by video from Australia. Electron microscopy. “
Achon took clear images of the cell mass, and Epstein quickly recognized the distinct characteristics of a herpes virus, a first for science. The culprit has been found. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania confirmed the results.
“This virus is named after the cell culture in which it was discovered,” Morgan explained. “The cell cultures were labeled EB1, which stands for Epstein-Barr 1, EB2, EB3, etc.”
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is also a cause of mononucleosis and is strongly associated with Hodgkin lymphoma. An estimated 90% of the world's adult population carries the virus.
Barr received her doctorate in 1966, a year after marrying industrial chemist Stuart Boulding. After immigrating to Australia, they had two children, Kirsten and Sean Balding. She earned a degree in education and became a high school math and science teacher. Her work in biomedical research ended with her discoveries in Epstein's lab.
“She saw this discovery as just another part of her life,” Kirsten Bolding said in an interview. “I think she loved being her teacher and helping her kids.”
Barr died in Melbourne on February 13, 2016, after developing multiple medical problems, including diabetes and congestive heart failure, according to his daughter. She was 83 years old.