Colin MacLeod
Encyclopedia
Colin Munro MacLeod was a Canadian-American geneticist.
, Nova Scotia
, Canada
MacLeod entered McGill University
at the age of 16 (having skipped three grades in primary school), and completed his medical studies by age 23.
In his early years as a research scientist, MacLeod, together with Oswald Avery
and Maclyn McCarty
, demonstrated that DNA
is the active component responsible for bacterial transformation—and in retrospect, the physical basis of the gene
. In 1941, Avery and MacLeod had separated a crude extract from the pneumonia-causing S (‘smooth’) strain of the bacteria. The S strain extract could convert the far more benign R (‘rough’) strain of pneumocci to the disease-causing S form. Later that year, McCarty joined the Avery laboratory, and in 1942, the group began to focus on DNA as the elusive ingredient in the S strain extract that could transform R pneumococcus into S pneumococcus. By early 1943, Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty had shown that DNA was indeed the transforming principle. In February 1944, the trio published the first of a series of scientific papers in the Journal of Experimental Medicine
demonstrating that DNA was the transforming principle. Subsequent experiments confirmed DNA as a universal bearer of genetic information. Despite the scientific importance of this work, which became known as the Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment
, Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty were never awarded a Nobel Prize
for their discovery.
MacLeod, meanwhile, had been diverted to health and science issues related to the Second World War. At the time, microbial diseases such as typhus fever, malaria
, and pneumonia
posed significant threats to the health of U.S. military personnel. During the war, MacLeod was one of many university-based scientists and physicians who advised the Federal government on medical matters “when asked.” In 1941, he had been appointed Chairman of the Department of Microbiology at New York University
(NYU) School of Medicine, and also worked as a consultant to the U.S. Secretary of War. He became an official member of the Army Epidemiological Board, which in 1949 was enlarged to include all the armed forces and renamed the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB). MacLeod became president of the Army board in 1947, a position he held until 1955. The organization of the AFEB into 12 disease-related commissions foreshadowed the organization of the USJCMSP into its disease-related panels.
At the end of World War II, Congress
gave the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) the authority to make external research awards, thereby creating its extramural programs, which today constitute almost 90 percent of NIH funding. The NIH took over the funding of various research projects that had begun during the war, and MacLeod, from 1946 – 1949, served as a member of the first NIH study section, the Antibiotics Study Section. Given his background with the newly renamed Department of Defense
, MacLeod grew into the role of informal advisor to several NIH directors and served on various grant committees, commissions, and task forces. Thus, MacLeod had entered the third phase of his highly successful career—the first two being a laboratory research scientist and academic department head—with multiple forays into the realm of science policy and international health.
MacLeod was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences
in 1955. In 1956, he gave up his position as head of microbiology at NYU, spent several years at the University of Pennsylvania
, and then returned in 1960 to NYU as a professor of medicine. The same year, NIH Director James Shannon
asked MacLeod to work with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO) to find ways to address the problem of cholera
. Other scientists on the project were Joseph Smadel of the NIH, and Theodore Woodward
and Fred L. Soper. (Woodward served as a U.S. Delegation Member from 1965–1995 and is now emeritus member.) MacLeod, Smadel, Woodward, Soper, and the other scientific advisors to SEATO recommended the establishment of a laboratory in Dacca
, East Pakistan
(now Dhaka, Bangladesh
), that could conduct field research on cholera
. Soper became the first director of the facility, initially called the Cholera Research Laboratory, and later renamed the International Center of Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B). Several years later, the newly formed USJCMSP Cholera Panels coordinated their cholera research and treatment activities with the Cholera Research Laboratory.
In 1961, MacLeod became the chairman of the Life Sciences Panel of President John F. Kennedy
’s Science Advisory Committee. In 1963, Kennedy appointed MacLeod as Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology (OST), Executive Office of the President (now the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy). MacLeod was the first person to hold the position of deputy director of OST and remained there until 1966, serving as an advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson
after Kennedy's assassination. It has not been possible to find documents that confirm who actually conceived the notion of a collaborative medical research enterprise between the United States and Japan
. However, the idea is often attributed to MacLeod, who became Chair of the first U.S. delegation to the USJCMSP in 1965.
Biography
Born in Port HastingsPort Hastings, Nova Scotia
Port Hastings is a Canadian rural community in Inverness County, Nova Scotia.The community is located at the eastern end of the Canso Causeway on Cape Breton Island.-History:The community was previously known as Plaster Cove....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
MacLeod entered McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
at the age of 16 (having skipped three grades in primary school), and completed his medical studies by age 23.
In his early years as a research scientist, MacLeod, together with Oswald Avery
Oswald Avery
Oswald Theodore Avery ForMemRS was a Canadian-born American physician and medical researcher. The major part of his career was spent at the Rockefeller University Hospital in New York City...
and Maclyn McCarty
Maclyn McCarty
Maclyn McCarty was an American geneticist.Maclyn McCarty, who devoted his life as a physician-scientist to studying infectious disease organisms, was best known for his part in the monumental discovery that DNA, rather than protein, constituted the chemical nature of a gene...
, demonstrated that DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
is the active component responsible for bacterial transformation—and in retrospect, the physical basis of the gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
. In 1941, Avery and MacLeod had separated a crude extract from the pneumonia-causing S (‘smooth’) strain of the bacteria. The S strain extract could convert the far more benign R (‘rough’) strain of pneumocci to the disease-causing S form. Later that year, McCarty joined the Avery laboratory, and in 1942, the group began to focus on DNA as the elusive ingredient in the S strain extract that could transform R pneumococcus into S pneumococcus. By early 1943, Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty had shown that DNA was indeed the transforming principle. In February 1944, the trio published the first of a series of scientific papers in the Journal of Experimental Medicine
Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Experimental Medicine is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Rockefeller University Press that publishes research papers and commentaries on the physiological, pathological, and molecular mechanisms that encompass the host response to disease...
demonstrating that DNA was the transforming principle. Subsequent experiments confirmed DNA as a universal bearer of genetic information. Despite the scientific importance of this work, which became known as the Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment
Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment
The Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment was an experimental demonstration, reported in 1944 by Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty, that DNA is the substance that causes bacterial transformation...
, Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty were never awarded a Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for their discovery.
MacLeod, meanwhile, had been diverted to health and science issues related to the Second World War. At the time, microbial diseases such as typhus fever, malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
posed significant threats to the health of U.S. military personnel. During the war, MacLeod was one of many university-based scientists and physicians who advised the Federal government on medical matters “when asked.” In 1941, he had been appointed Chairman of the Department of Microbiology at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(NYU) School of Medicine, and also worked as a consultant to the U.S. Secretary of War. He became an official member of the Army Epidemiological Board, which in 1949 was enlarged to include all the armed forces and renamed the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB). MacLeod became president of the Army board in 1947, a position he held until 1955. The organization of the AFEB into 12 disease-related commissions foreshadowed the organization of the USJCMSP into its disease-related panels.
At the end of World War II, Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
gave the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
(NIH) the authority to make external research awards, thereby creating its extramural programs, which today constitute almost 90 percent of NIH funding. The NIH took over the funding of various research projects that had begun during the war, and MacLeod, from 1946 – 1949, served as a member of the first NIH study section, the Antibiotics Study Section. Given his background with the newly renamed Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, MacLeod grew into the role of informal advisor to several NIH directors and served on various grant committees, commissions, and task forces. Thus, MacLeod had entered the third phase of his highly successful career—the first two being a laboratory research scientist and academic department head—with multiple forays into the realm of science policy and international health.
MacLeod was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
in 1955. In 1956, he gave up his position as head of microbiology at NYU, spent several years at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and then returned in 1960 to NYU as a professor of medicine. The same year, NIH Director James Shannon
James Shannon
James Michael Shannon , also known as Jim Shannon, is a Democratic politician from Massachusetts. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and later as the Massachusetts Attorney General....
asked MacLeod to work with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines. The formal institution of SEATO was established on 19 February...
(SEATO) to find ways to address the problem of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. Other scientists on the project were Joseph Smadel of the NIH, and Theodore Woodward
Theodore Woodward
Theodore E. Woodward was an American medical researcher in the field of medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. In 1948, he received a Nobel Prize nomination for his role in finding cures for typhus and typhoid fever.-Biography:Born in Westminster, Maryland the son of Lewis K. Woodward,...
and Fred L. Soper. (Woodward served as a U.S. Delegation Member from 1965–1995 and is now emeritus member.) MacLeod, Smadel, Woodward, Soper, and the other scientific advisors to SEATO recommended the establishment of a laboratory in Dacca
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
(now Dhaka, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
), that could conduct field research on cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. Soper became the first director of the facility, initially called the Cholera Research Laboratory, and later renamed the International Center of Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B). Several years later, the newly formed USJCMSP Cholera Panels coordinated their cholera research and treatment activities with the Cholera Research Laboratory.
In 1961, MacLeod became the chairman of the Life Sciences Panel of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
’s Science Advisory Committee. In 1963, Kennedy appointed MacLeod as Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology (OST), Executive Office of the President (now the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy). MacLeod was the first person to hold the position of deputy director of OST and remained there until 1966, serving as an advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
after Kennedy's assassination. It has not been possible to find documents that confirm who actually conceived the notion of a collaborative medical research enterprise between the United States and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. However, the idea is often attributed to MacLeod, who became Chair of the first U.S. delegation to the USJCMSP in 1965.