Leslie Brent
Encyclopedia
Leslie Baruch Brent born Lothar Baruch, in Köslin, Germany (now Koszalin
, Poland
), to German-Jewish parents, is a British immunologist
and zoologist
.
He has been Professor Emeritus, University of London
, since 1990. An immunologist, he is the co-discoverer with Peter Medawar
and Rupert Billingham of acquired immunological tolerance. They injected cells from donor mice into fetal mice, and later neonatal mice, which would as adults receive donor skin grafts without rejection.
To avoid persecution in the largely non-Jewish Köslin, his family placed him in the Jewish Pankow orphanage in Berlin in 1936. In 1938, at age 13, to escape the rising anti-Semitism
of the Sturmabteilung
(Storm Troopers) and teachers, Brent was sent to England on the first of the Kindertransport
s and became a pupil at Anna Essinger
's Bunce Court School
. His parents and older sister stayed behind in Germany. Because his status as a German national would have made him liable to execution in the event of capture, he was advised to change his name. After the war, he found out that his parents were sent to Riga
, Latvia and executed. There are three stolpersteine
for his parents and sister in Berlin. After the war, he became a British citizen and enrolled at University of Birmingham
.
As a secular Jew who escaped the Holocaust
, Brent opposes the use of excessive force in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/zeitreisen/1600473/)
Education: Bunce Court School, Kent; Birmingham Central Technical College; University of Birmingham
(President, Guild of Undergraduates, 1950-51); University College London
(Ph.D).
Koszalin
Koszalin ; is the largest city of Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland. It is located 12 km south of the Baltic Sea coast. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), to German-Jewish parents, is a British immunologist
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
and zoologist
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
.
He has been Professor Emeritus, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, since 1990. An immunologist, he is the co-discoverer with Peter Medawar
Peter Medawar
Sir Peter Brian Medawar OM CBE FRS was a British biologist, whose work on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance was fundamental to the practice of tissue and organ transplants...
and Rupert Billingham of acquired immunological tolerance. They injected cells from donor mice into fetal mice, and later neonatal mice, which would as adults receive donor skin grafts without rejection.
To avoid persecution in the largely non-Jewish Köslin, his family placed him in the Jewish Pankow orphanage in Berlin in 1936. In 1938, at age 13, to escape the rising anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
of the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(Storm Troopers) and teachers, Brent was sent to England on the first of the Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
s and became a pupil at Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger was a German-Jewish educator. At the age of 20, she went to finish her education in the United States, where she encountered Quakers and was greatly influenced by their attitudes, adopting them for her own...
's Bunce Court School
Bunce Court School
The Bunce Court School was an independent, private boarding school in the village of Otterden, in Kent, England. It was founded in 1933 by Anna Essinger, who had previously founded a boarding school, Landschulheim Herrlingen in the south of Germany, but after the Nazi Party seized power in 1933,...
. His parents and older sister stayed behind in Germany. Because his status as a German national would have made him liable to execution in the event of capture, he was advised to change his name. After the war, he found out that his parents were sent to Riga
Riga Ghetto
The Riga Ghetto was a small area in Maskavas Forštate, neighborhood of Riga, Latvia, designated by the Nazis where Jews from Latvia, and later from Germany, were forced to live during World War II. On October 25, 1941, the Nazis relocated all Jews from Riga and the vicinity to the ghetto while the...
, Latvia and executed. There are three stolpersteine
Stolpersteine
Stolperstein is the German word for "stumbling block", "obstacle", or "something in the way". The artist Gunter Demnig has given this word a new meaning, that of a small, cobblestone-sized memorial for a single victim of Nazism...
for his parents and sister in Berlin. After the war, he became a British citizen and enrolled at University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
.
As a secular Jew who escaped the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, Brent opposes the use of excessive force in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/zeitreisen/1600473/)
Education: Bunce Court School, Kent; Birmingham Central Technical College; University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
(President, Guild of Undergraduates, 1950-51); University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
(Ph.D).
Career
- Laboratory technician, 1941-43
- Army service, 1943-47, Captain
- Lecturer, Department of ZoologyZoologyZoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, UCL, 1954-62 - Rockefeller Research Fellow, California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, 1956-57 - Research scientist, National Institute for Medical ResearchNational Institute for Medical ResearchThe National Institute for Medical Research, commonly abbreviated to NIMR, is a medical research facility situated in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of London, England. It is mainly funded by the Medical Research Council, or MRC, and is its largest establishment and the only one designated as an...
, 1962-65 - Professor of Zoology, University of SouthamptonUniversity of SouthamptonThe University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
, 1965-69 - Professor of Immunology, St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, 1969-90
Other positions
- European Editor, Transplantation, 1963-68
- Chairman: Wessex Branch, Institute of Biology, 1966-68
- General Secretary, British Transplantation Society, 1971-75
- President, The Transplantation Society, 1976-78