Margaret Reed Lewis
| Margaret Reed Lewis | |
|---|---|
|
Lewis, c. 1936 | |
| Born |
November 9, 1881 Kittanning, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 20, 1970 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Cell biology, embryology |
| Alma mater | Goucher College |
| Spouse | Warren Harmon Lewis |
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Margaret Adaline Reed Lewis (1881–1970) was an American cell biologist and embryologist who made contributions to cancer research and cell culture techniques, and was likely the first person to successfully grow mammalian tissue in vitro. She authored around 150 papers, many co-authored with her husband Warren Harmon Lewis. The Lewises developed a growth medium called the Locke-Lewis solution and jointly received the Gerhard Gold Medal from the Pathological Society of Philadelphia.[1][2]
Early life and education
Margaret Adaline Reed was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1881, to parents Joseph C. and Martha A. (Walker) Reed. From 1897 to 1901 she attended Goucher College (then known as Woman's College of Baltimore), where she earned an A.B. After graduation she studied at Bryn Mawr College, Columbia University, and the Universities of Zurich, Paris, and Berlin, but never earned a graduate degree. At Bryn Mawr and Columbia she researched regeneration in amphibians and crayfish, and assisted noted embryologist Thomas Hunt Morgan.[2][3][4]
Career
Mammalian in vitro culture
In Berlin, 1908, while working in the laboratory of Max Hartmann with Dr. Rhoda Erdmann, who was growing amoebae in a nutrient solution, Reed transferred bone marrow tissue of a guinea pig to the solution, and after several days observed new bone marrow cells growing and multiplying. George W. Corner later wrote "This must have been the first in vitro culture of mammalian cells ever to have been made."[5]:333[lower-alpha 1]
She also discovered a type of cancer called Lewis lung carcinoma.
Teaching
Between 1901 and 1912, Lewis held several teaching positions. She was an assistant in zoology at Bryn Mawr College (1901–1902); lecturer in physiology at New York Medical College for Women (1904–1907); lecturer at Barnard College (1907–1909), and instructor of anatomy and physiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Training School for Nurses (1911–1912).[2]
Marriage
In 1910 she married Warren Harmon Lewis, also a cell physiologist. The Lewises collaborated on many research projects over the years, including the discovery that macrophage cells derived from monocytes and were not separate cell types.[6]
Later life, legacy and death
In 1915 Lewis joined the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In 1940 she was elected to the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Lewis was an honorary life member of the Tissue Culture Society.[2]
Lewis died July 20, 1970, at the age of 88.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Some sources indicate some uncertainty in this "first". Tiffany K. Wayne writes "she may have conducted the first known successful in vitro mammalian tissue culture experiment."[2] Similarly, Joy Harvey and Marilyn Ogilvie state Lewis "was probably the first person person to successfully cultivate mammalian tissue,"[1] while Elizabeth Oakes in the Encyclopedia of World Scientists writes Lewis "was the first researcher to successfully grow mammalian tissue culture in vitro..."[4]
References
- 1 2 Ogilvie, Marilyn; Harvey, Joy (2003). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge. pp. 785–786. ISBN 978-1-135-96343-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Wayne, Tiffany K. (2011). American Women of Science Since 1900: Essays A-H. Vol.1. ABC-CLIO. pp. 620–621. ISBN 978-1-59884-158-9.
- ↑ John William Leonard (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada. American Commonwealth Company. p. 490.
- 1 2 3 Elizabeth H. Oakes (2007). Encyclopedia of World Scientists. Infobase Publishing. p. 452. ISBN 978-1-4381-1882-6.
- ↑ Corner, George W. (1967). "Warren Harmon Lewis, June 17, 1870 – July 3, 1964" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (39): 323–358.
- ↑ David Evans (2015). Marine Physiology Down East: The Story of the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory. Springer. pp. 78–. ISBN 978-1-4939-2960-3.
External links
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