Bonnie S. Dunbar

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Bonnie Dunbar
Born
Bonita Sue Dunbar

(1948-02-14) February 14, 1948 (age 76)
Sterling, Colorado
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Colorado Boulder, University of Tennessee Knoxville
AwardsBest Paper and Presentation, 1973 Southwest Developmental Biology Symposium; honored as First Margaret Pittman Lecturer in 1994 [1]
Scientific career
Fields Zoology
Institutions Baylor College of Medicine
Thesis Characterization of macromolecular components of rabbit uterine secretions  (1977)

Bonita Sue Dunbar (born February 14, 1948), [2] known as Bonnie Dunbar or Bonnie S. Dunbar, is an American zoologist and academic who was the former professor in the department of molecular and cell biology at Baylor College of Medicine, a position she held from 1994 to 2004. Prior thereto she was an assistant professor in the same department at the same university from 1981 to 1983. From 1984 to 1994, also at Baylor College of Medicine, she also held a position as associate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. She is currently an honorary lecturer at the University of Nairobi. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Endocrine Society, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the New York Academy of Sciences. She is currently the owner of the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden Restaurant and Cottages, [3] as well as the treasurer of the African Biomedical Center. [4] She served on the editorial board of the journal Medical Veritas, which was published from 2004 to 2008 and endorsed anti-vaccine views.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Education

Dunbar was born in Sterling, Colorado. She received her bachelors' (1970) and masters' (1971) degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder, followed by a PhD in zoology from the University of Tennessee in 1977. She did postdoctoral research from 1975 to 1978 at the University of California Davis. [1]

Scientific career

After completing her postdoc, Dunbar worked at the Population Council of Rockefeller University until 1981, when she became an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine's department of cell biology. Her research into the zona pellucida as a graduate student led her to the search for a contraceptive when she noticed that some infertile women had antibodies to their own zona pellucida, preventing the sperm from entering the egg when sex took place. To this end, she proposed the injection of pig proteins into rabbits to induce autoimmunity, a proposal which proved successful; however, it was not without serious side effects: the rabbits thus immunized developed an autoimmune disease which resulted in their immune system attacking their ovaries, causing permanent ovarian failure. [5]

She said that her interest in this arose because "...in my young years I had a vision that maybe we could help the world population problem and provide women with an option for birth control that was not invasive in our hormones or our systems or otherwise have the side effects we now see with a lot of contraceptive methods." [5] In February 1991, Dr. Dunbar received a patent on such a vaccine while affiliated with Zonagen. [6] In 1994, Dunbar filed a lawsuit accusing Baylor College of Medicine, the Houston-based law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, Zonagen, and a group of investors of forcing her to relinquish patent rights to this vaccine. [7] In 1999, the parties reached a settlement; the terms were not disclosed, but Dunbar said she was "very happy" with it. [7] In June 2001, Dunbar lost everything she had been storing in her lab—"20 years of research" according to the Houston Chronicle —after Tropical Storm Allison devastated Baylor College of Medicine. [8]

Views on the Hepatitis B vaccine

Dunbar has vocally criticized the hepatitis B vaccine, which, she claims, may be more dangerous than Hepatitis B itself for a small portion of the Caucasian population. She began suspecting the vaccine was dangerous after her brother, Bohn, developed rashes on his face, fatigue, and a number of other symptoms after being vaccinated with it. In 2000, Dunbar said that her brother "hasn't been out of bed since" he received the Hepatitis B vaccine. [9]

A 2004 study showed an association between recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis, [10] but the current status of research is "inconclusive". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zona pellucida</span> Glycoprotein layer surrounding the plasma membrane of mammalian oocytes

The zona pellucida is the specialized area surrounding mammalian oocytes (eggs). It is also known as an egg coat. The zona pellucida is essential for oocyte growth and fertilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acrosin</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Acrosin is a digestive enzyme that acts as a protease. In humans, acrosin is encoded by the ACR gene. Acrosin is released from the acrosome of spermatozoa as a consequence of the acrosome reaction. It aids in the penetration of the Zona Pellucida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recombinant DNA</span> DNA molecules formed by human agency at a molecular level generating novel DNA sequences

Recombinant DNA (rDNA) molecules are DNA molecules formed by laboratory methods of genetic recombination that bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in the genome.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZP3</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Zona pellucida sperm-binding protein 3, also known as zona pellucida glycoprotein 3 (Zp-3) or the sperm receptor, is a ZP module-containing protein that in humans is encoded by the ZP3 gene. ZP3 is the glycoprotein in the zona pellucida most important for inducting the acrosome reaction of sperm cells at the beginning of fertilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hepatitis B vaccine</span> Vaccine against hepatitis B

Hepatitis B vaccine is a vaccine that prevents hepatitis B. The first dose is recommended within 24 hours of birth with either two or three more doses given after that. This includes those with poor immune function such as from HIV/AIDS and those born premature. It is also recommended that health-care workers be vaccinated. In healthy people, routine immunization results in more than 95% of people being protected.

Immunocontraception is the use of an animal's immune system to prevent it from fertilizing offspring. Contraceptives of this type are not currently approved for human use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZP4</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Zona pellucida sperm-binding protein 4, ZP-4 or avilesine, named after its discoverer Manuel Avilés Sánchez is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ZP4 gene.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Biographical Sketch" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Bonnie S. Dunbar Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  3. ↑ Anderson, Mary Ann (August 5, 2005). "Out of Kenya". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  4. ↑ "About ABC". March 3, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Robinson, Joan (2009). "Blasted Ovaries: The Failure of Contraceptive Vaccines". Population Research Institute. Archived from the original on August 15, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  6. ↑ Wallstin, Brian (August 20, 1998). "Biological Disaster". Houston Press . Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Baylor professor settles vaccine suit". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Associated Press. May 30, 1999. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  8. ↑ Milling, T.J. (April 20, 2002). "Doctor, doctor: Houston duo shares a name". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Who Calls the Shots?". 20/20 . ABC News. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009.
  10. ↑ Hernán, Miguel A.; Jick, Susan S.; Olek, Michael J.; Jick, Hershel (September 14, 2004). "Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine and the risk of multiple sclerosis: a prospective study". Neurology. 63 (5): 838–842. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000138433.61870.82. ISSN   1526-632X. PMID   15365133. S2CID   25309517.
  11. ↑ Trust, M. S. "Hepatitis B vaccine | MS Trust". mstrust.org.uk.
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