Yvonne Barr

Yvonne Margaret (née Barr) Balding (1932 - 2016)

Yvonne Margaret (née Barr) Balding (1932-2016) was an Irish virologist.

Barr was a virologist central to one of the great medical discoveries of the twentieth century: the identification of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Born in County Carlow, she studied zoology at Trinity College Dublin before pursuing postgraduate work in medical microbiology. In 1963 she joined the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology in London, working with Sir Anthony Epstein and Bert Achong on the mysterious lymphoma cases being described by Denis Burkitt in Africa.

It was Barr’s meticulous cell culture work that made the breakthrough possible. She succeeded in keeping Burkitt’s lymphoma cells alive in suspension culture, long enough to visualise herpes-like viral particles within them by electron microscopy. Their 1964 paper in The Lancet described the virus that would later bear their names, the first human tumour virus to be identified. Barr’s technical expertise, patience, and innovation were pivotal, though her role was often overshadowed in historical accounts.

After the discovery, Barr moved away from frontline virology research. Immediately following completion of her PhD in 1966, she emigrated to Melbourne, Australia; raised two children; gained the Diploma of Education; and taught biology in secondary schools for 20 years. Although not widely celebrated during her lifetime, her contribution has since been recognised as indispensable to the discovery of EBV with her name permanently linked with one of the most significant advances in cancer biology and infectious disease.

Biographical Timeline
  • Born Yvonne Margaret Barr on March 11, 1932 in Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland
  • 1940s – Attended Banbridge Academy Secondary School, becoming Head Prefect
  • 1953 – Graduated BA with honours in Zoology from Trinity College, Dublin
  • 1955 – Began work as a research assistant; at London’s National Institute for Medical Research, she mastered cell culture techniques and studied Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Later, at the University of Toronto, she researched canine distemper virus
  • 1963 – Recruited by Sir Anthony Epstein (1921-2024) as his first research assistant at the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology, Middlesex Hospital, London. She became his PhD student at the University of London
  • 1964 – Co-discovered Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) with Epstein and Bert Achong, identifying the first human tumor virus
  • 1965 – Married Australian industrial chemist Stuart F. Balding (1932-2019) in Sussex, UK
  • 1966 – Completed her PhD at the University of London; emigrated to Melbourne, Australia
  • 1966–1986 – Taught biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics at secondary schools in Melbourne for 20 years. Raised two children, Kirsten and Sean Balding
  • Died February 13, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia aged 83
Medical Eponyms
Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) (1964)

The EBV, or human herpes virus 4 (HHV-4), is a Lymphocryptovirus belonging to the subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae of the family Herpesviridae. The virus consists of a linear double-stranded DNA core surrounded by a nucleocapsid and an envelope that contains glycoproteins. In addition, EBV has been defined as a category I human tumor virus by the UICC (1997).

On March 22, 1961, Denis Burkitt (1911-1993) visited England from Uganda and presented a lecture at Middlesex Hospital detailing “The Commonest Children’s Cancer in Tropical Africa — A Hitherto Unrecognised Syndrome”. Epstein was in the audience.

I had been working at the Middlesex Hospital on the then seriously unfashionable cancer causing viruses of chickens (Rous sarcoma virus)…when Burkitt mentioned the peculiar temperature and rainfall determined geography of the tumour I immediately considered the possible involvement of a human cancer-causing virus spread by a climate-dependent vector and decided, even as Burkitt was talking, to stop my current work and seek for such an agent

Epstein 2012

Epstein asked Burkitt for a tissue sample and arranged for samples of tumours taken from children with Burkitt lymphoma to be shipped from Uganda to Epstein’s lab in London. He searched in vein for 2 years, but was not able to isolate the virus. With a US National Institute of Health grant for $45,000, Epstein recruited Yvonne Barr for cell culture preparation, and the electron microscopy skills of Bert Geoffrey Achong (1928-1996) to help him in the search.

On Friday 5 December 1963 fog caused the flight from Uganda to be diverted to Manchester and the tissue sample was delayed. The tissue sample was from the upper jaw of a 9 year old girl with Burkitt lymphoma from Kampala. On reaching Epstein’s lab in London, the usually clear sample transit fluid was found to be cloudy with huge numbers of viable, free-floating lymphoma cells shaken from the sample by the unusually long flight. Lymphoma cell lines were cultured and grew continuously, forming the immortal cell line EB-1 after Epstein and Barr.

…the free floating cells from this delayed sample were set up in suspension and the first cell line duly grew out designated EB to distinguish it from HeLa, OMK, BHK and other cells in the laboratory…This was the first time that any cells from the human lymphocytic series had ever been grown in vitro…the discovery was rapidly sent for publication with my research assistants, Bert Achong, who helped with the electron microscopy, and Yvonne Barr, who helped with the cell culture

Epstein 2012

In 1968, the virology team of Gertrude and Werner Henle discovered how to immunize against the Epstein–Barr virus and confirmed a link between this virus and infectious mononucleosis. The Henle’s are responsible for

A herpes-type virus has been detected with remarkable frequency in cell lines derived from Burkitt’s lymphomas, leukemic tissues, or buffy coats of a variety of patients and healthy donors. This agent is being named EB virus (EBV), for convenience, after the cell lines in which it was first observed…The present report indicates that EBV is related to, and probably the cause of, infectious mononucleosis.

Henle G, Henle W, Diehl V. 1968
Major Publications
References

Biography

Eponym

EBV 50th anniversary Conference at Keble College, Oxford, UK 23-25 March, 2014

Eponym

the person behind the name

more eponyms…
Dr Thea Fraser-Taliente LITFL Author

BMedSci (infectious disease) MB ChB, Edinburgh University. Emergency Medicine training.  Currently working at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth Austraslia.

BA MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM. Emergency physician, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Passion for rugby; medical history; medical education; and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | On Call: Principles and Protocol 4e| Eponyms | Books |

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