Jane Mellanby

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Jane Mellanby
Born14 April 1938
Sheffield, England
Died8 February 2021(2021-02-08) (aged 82)
Occupation(s)Neuroscientist, academic
Children4, including Edward Impey
Parent Kenneth Mellanby
Relatives Edward Mellanby (uncle)

Jane H. F. Mellanby (14 April 1938 – 8 February 2021) was a British neuroscientist and academic. She was a doctoral student of biochemist Hans Krebs, and was a fellow at St. Hilda's College, Oxford f rom 1971 to 2006.

Contents

Early life

Mellanby was born in Sheffield, the daughter of entomologist Kenneth Mellanby and Canadian-born biomedical researcher Agnes Helen Nielson Dow Mellanby. [1] [2] [3] Her uncle was biochemist Edward Mellanby. [4] She read botany, physiology and chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford. In 1962, she completed doctoral studies in biochemistry at Oxford with Hans Krebs as her advisor. [5]

Career

Mellanby worked on tetanospasmin and botulinum toxins as a postdoctoral research associate at Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. In 1970, she and Larry Weiskrantz founded the Neurochemistry unit in Oxford's Experimental Psychology department. She was a Fellow at St. Hilda's College, Oxford from 1971. From 1977 to 2006, she was an Official Fellow in Experimental Psychology at St. Hilda's; she was also vice-principal of the college, from 1990 to 1996. In 2016, she was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. [6]

Mellanby's research included a focus on temporal lobe epilepsy. She took a particular interest in secondary education and served as a governor of a local comprehensive school. She helped to develop the VESPARCH test for evaluating verbal and spatial reasoning skills in students, as director of the Oxford Group For Children's Potential. [7] [8] She also studied gender differences in undergraduate science education. [9] [10] Her research appeared in academic journals including Nature, [11] Neuroscience, [12] Journal of Physiology, [13] Journal of Psychopharmacology , [10] British Journal of Psychology , [10] Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education , [14] Higher Education , [15] Biochemical Journal, [16] and Medical Teacher . [17]

Publications

Personal life

Mellanby married zoologist and curator Oliver R. Impey in 1961. They had four children, including Edward Impey. She was widowed when Impey died in 2005; [26] she died from cancer in 2021, aged 82 years. [4]

Related Research Articles

γ-Hydroxybutyric acid Chemical compound

γ-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), also known as 4-hydroxybutanoic acid is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter and a depressant drug. It is a precursor to GABA, glutamate, and glycine in certain brain areas. It acts on the GHB receptor and is a weak agonist at the GABAB receptor. GHB has been used in the medical setting as a general anesthetic and as treatment for cataplexy, narcolepsy, and alcoholism. The substance is also used illicitly for various reasons, including as a performance-enhancing drug, date rape drug, and as a recreational drug.

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venom</span> Toxin secreted by an animal

Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved venom apparatus, such as fangs or a stinger, in a process called envenomation. Venom is often distinguished from poison, which is a toxin that is passively delivered by being ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin, and toxungen, which is actively transferred to the external surface of another animal via a physical delivery mechanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Botulinum toxin</span> Neurotoxic protein produced by Clostridium botulinum

Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin, is a highly potent neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon endings at the neuromuscular junction, thus causing flaccid paralysis. The toxin causes the disease botulism. The toxin is also used commercially for medical and cosmetic purposes. Botulinum toxin is an acetylcholine release inhibitor and a neuromuscular blocking agent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetanus</span> Bacterial infection characterized by muscle spasms

Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by Clostridium tetani and characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw, and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually lasts for a few minutes. Spasms occur frequently for three to four weeks. Some spasms may be severe enough to fracture bones. Other symptoms of tetanus may include fever, sweating, headache, trouble swallowing, high blood pressure, and a fast heart rate. Onset of symptoms is typically 3 to 21 days following infection. Recovery may take months; about 10% of cases prove to be fatal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Krebs (biochemist)</span> British biochemist (1900–1981)

Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, FRS was a German-British biologist, physician and biochemist. He was a pioneer scientist in the study of cellular respiration, a biochemical process in living cells that extracts energy from food and oxygen and makes it available to drive the processes of life. He is best known for his discoveries of two important sequences of chemical reactions that take place in the cells of nearly all organisms, including humans, other than anaerobic microorganisms, namely the citric acid cycle and the urea cycle. The former, often eponymously known as the "Krebs cycle", is the sequence of metabolic reactions that allows cells of oxygen-respiring organisms to obtain far more ATP from the food they consume than anaerobic processes such as glycolysis can supply; and its discovery earned Krebs a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953. With Hans Kornberg, he also discovered the glyoxylate cycle, a slight variation of the citric acid cycle found in plants, bacteria, protists, and fungi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetanus toxin</span> Extremely potent neurotoxin

Tetanus toxin (TeNT) is an extremely potent neurotoxin produced by the vegetative cell of Clostridium tetani in anaerobic conditions, causing tetanus. It has no known function for clostridia in the soil environment where they are normally encountered. It is also called spasmogenic toxin, tentoxilysin, tetanospasmin, or tetanus neurotoxin. The LD50 of this toxin has been measured to be approximately 2.5–3 ng/kg, making it second only to the related botulinum toxin (LD50 2 ng/kg) as the deadliest toxin in the world. However, these tests are conducted solely on mice, which may react to the toxin differently from humans and other animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurotoxin</span> Toxin harmful to nervous tissue

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coprolalia</span> Involuntary utterance of socially inappropriate words

Coprolalia is involuntary swearing or the involuntary utterance of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks. The word comes from the Greek κόπρος, meaning "dung, feces", and λαλιά "speech", from λαλεῖν "to talk".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exotoxin</span> Toxin from bacteria that destroys or disrupts cells

An exotoxin is a toxin secreted by bacteria. An exotoxin can cause damage to the host by destroying cells or disrupting normal cellular metabolism. They are highly potent and can cause major damage to the host. Exotoxins may be secreted, or, similar to endotoxins, may be released during lysis of the cell. Gram negative pathogens may secrete outer membrane vesicles containing lipopolysaccharide endotoxin and some virulence proteins in the bounding membrane along with some other toxins as intra-vesicular contents, thus adding a previously unforeseen dimension to the well-known eukaryote process of membrane vesicle trafficking, which is quite active at the host–pathogen interface.

Amusia is a musical disorder that appears mainly as a defect in processing pitch but also encompasses musical memory and recognition. Two main classifications of amusia exist: acquired amusia, which occurs as a result of brain damage, and congenital amusia, which results from a music-processing anomaly present since birth.

<i>Clostridium tetani</i> Common soil bacterium and the causative agent of tetanus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 (HCA2), also known as GPR109A and niacin receptor 1 (NIACR1), is a protein which in humans is encoded (its formation is directed) by the HCAR2 gene and in rodents by the Hcar2 gene. The human HCAR2 gene is located on the long (i.e., "q") arm of chromosome 12 at position 24.31 (notated as 12q24.31). Like the two other hydroxycarboxylic acid receptors, HCA1 and HCA3, HCA2 is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) located on the surface membrane of cells. HCA2 binds and thereby is activated by D-β-hydroxybutyric acid (hereafter termed β-hydroxybutyric acid), butyric acid, and niacin (also known as nicotinic acid). β-Hydroxybutyric and butyric acids are regarded as the endogenous agents that activate HCA2. Under normal conditions, niacin's blood levels are too low to do so: it is given as a drug in high doses in order to reach levels that activate HCA2.

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References

  1. Perring, Franklyn (11 January 1994). "Obituary: Kenneth Mellanby". The Independent. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  2. Mellanby, Helen (6 December 2012). Animal Life in Fresh Water: A Guide to Fresh-Water Invertebrates. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-94-009-5849-4.
  3. Mellanby, Jane (2002). "Agnes Helen Neilson Mellanby". BMJ: British Medical Journal. 325 (7367): 780. doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7367.780. ISSN   0959-8138. JSTOR   25452530. PMC   1124292 . S2CID   72150556.
  4. 1 2 "Professor Jane Mellanby obituary". The Times. 2 April 2021. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  5. Oates, Tim (9 March 2021). "Professor Jane Mellanby 1938 - 2021". Cambridge Assessment. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  6. "Our Emeritus Fellow Dr Jane Mellanby, Hon FRCP, has died". St Hilda's College Oxford. 10 February 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  7. McIntyre, Dan (25 August 2020). History of English: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-000-29840-6.
  8. “Academic Calls for More Complex Grammar on the Curriculum.” Education Journal, no. 376 (May 28, 2019): 11.
  9. "Jane Mellanby". Oxford Neuroscience. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Mellanby, Jane; Martin, Maryanne; O'Doherty, John (August 2000). "The 'gender gap' in final examination results at Oxford University". British Journal of Psychology. 91 (3): 377–390. doi:10.1348/000712600161880. PMID   10958580.
  11. 1 2 Mellanby, Jane; Van Heyningen, W. E. (July 1964). "Specific Precocious Protective Action of Toxoids". Nature. 203 (4942): 312–313. Bibcode:1964Natur.203..312M. doi:10.1038/203312b0. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   14201781. S2CID   4263260.
  12. 1 2 Mellanby, Jane; Green, Jane (1 March 1981). "How does tetanus toxin act?". Neuroscience. 6 (3): 281–300. doi:10.1016/0306-4522(81)90123-8. ISSN   0306-4522. PMID   6164010. S2CID   40189011.
  13. 1 2 Mellanby, Jane; Thompson, P. A. (1972). "The effect of tetanus toxin at the neuromuscular junction in the goldfish". The Journal of Physiology. 224 (2): 407–419. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1972.sp009902. ISSN   1469-7793. PMC   1331497 . PMID   4341938.
  14. 1 2 Edwards, Lindsey; Figueras, Berta; Mellanby, Jane; Langdon, Dawn (1 March 2011). "Verbal and Spatial Analogical Reasoning in Deaf and Hearing Children: The Role of Grammar and Vocabulary". The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 16 (2): 189–197. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enq051 . ISSN   1081-4159. PMID   21068179.
  15. 1 2 Mellanby, Jane; Zimdars, Anna (1 April 2011). "Trait anxiety and final degree performance at the University of Oxford". Higher Education. 61 (4): 357–370. doi:10.1007/s10734-010-9335-5. ISSN   1573-174X. S2CID   55091360.
  16. 1 2 Williamson, DH; Mellanby, Jane; Krebs, Hans A (1 January 1962). "Enzymic determination of d(−)-β-hydroxybutyric acid and acetoacetic acid in blood". Biochemical Journal. 82 (1): 90–96. doi:10.1042/bj0820090. ISSN   0006-2936. PMC   1243411 . PMID   14007241.
  17. 1 2 Svirko, Elena; Mellanby, Jane (1 January 2008). "Attitudes to e-learning, learning style and achievement in learning neuroanatomy by medical students". Medical Teacher. 30 (9–10): e219–e227. doi:10.1080/01421590802334275. hdl: 10818/34451 . ISSN   0142-159X. PMID   19117218. S2CID   29322273.
  18. Krebs, HA; Mellanby, J; Williamson, DH (1 January 1962). "The equilibrium constant of the β-hydroxybutyric-dehydrogenase system". Biochemical Journal. 82 (1): 96–98. doi:10.1042/bj0820096. ISSN   0006-2936. PMC   1243412 . PMID   14459507.
  19. Diamond, J.; Mellanby, Jane (1971). "The effect of tetanus toxin in the goldfish". The Journal of Physiology. 215 (3): 727–741. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1971.sp009494. ISSN   1469-7793. PMC   1331910 . PMID   4326308.
  20. van Heyningen, W. E.; Mellanby, Jane (1 September 1973). "A note on the specific fixation, specific deactivation and non-specific inactivation of bacterial toxins by gangliosides". Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology. 276 (3): 297–302. doi:10.1007/BF00499883. ISSN   1432-1912. PMID   4351284. S2CID   20359190.
  21. Williamson, Dermot H.; Mellanby, Jane (1 January 1974), Bergmeyer, Hans Ulrich (ed.), "D-(–)-3-Hydroxybutyrate", Methods of Enzymatic Analysis (Second Edition), Academic Press, pp. 1836–1839, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-091304-6.50037-9, ISBN   978-0-12-091304-6 , retrieved 8 December 2021
  22. Nicholls, Briony; Mellanby, Jane; Smith, Stephen (1 January 1994). "The effect of Ro 15-4513, an inverse agonist at the benzodiazepine receptor, on the exploratory response to novelty in the playground maze". Journal of Psychopharmacology. 8 (1): 32–39. doi:10.1177/026988119400800106. ISSN   0269-8811. PMID   22298478. S2CID   29600493.
  23. Mellanby, Jane; Cortina-Borja, Mario; Stein, John (1 May 2009). "Deep learning questions can help selection of high ability candidates for universities". Higher Education. 57 (5): 597–608. doi:10.1007/s10734-008-9164-y. ISSN   1573-174X. S2CID   143958019.
  24. Mellanby, Jane (2014). Education and learning : an evidence-based approach. Katy Theobald (1 ed.). Chichester, West Sussex. ISBN   978-1-118-72808-6. OCLC   871820895.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. Svirko, Elena; Mellanby, Jane (November 2017). "Teaching neuroanatomy using computer-aided learning: What makes for successful outcomes?: Computer-Aided Teaching of Neuroanatomy". Anatomical Sciences Education. 10 (6): 560–569. doi:10.1002/ase.1694. PMID   28431201. S2CID   23207484.
  26. "Oliver Impey". The Telegraph. 31 October 2005. Retrieved 8 December 2021.