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Iain Macintyre

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Medical career
FRS
Born
Iain Macintyre

(1924-08-30)30 August 1924
Glasgow, Scotland
Died19 September 2008(2008-09-19) (aged 84)
London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationJordanhill College School
University of Glasgow
OccupationProfessor of Chemical Pathology
Known forResearch into calcium metabolism
Sequencing of calcitonin
Research into nitric oxide
Medical career
InstitutionsRoyal Postgraduate Medical School, London
William Harvey Research Institute, London
Sub-specialtiesEndocrinology
ResearchCalcium metabolism
Nitric oxide
AwardsGardner International award
Buchanan medal

Iain Macintyre FRS (30 August 1924 – 18 September 2008) was a British endocrinologist who made important contributions to the understanding of calcium regulation and bone metabolism. Shortly after the hormone calcitonin had been described by Harold Copp, Macintyre's team was the first to isolate and sequence the hormone and to demonstrate its origin in the parafollicular cells of the thyroid gland. He subsequently analysed its physiological actions. Along with H. R. Morris he isolated and sequenced calcitonin gene-related peptide. Later research centred on the role played by nitric oxide on bone metabolism.[1]

Early life and education

Macintyre was born in Glasgow in 1924, the eldest son of John Macintyre and Margaret (née Shaw). He went to school at Jordanhill College School (subsequently Jordanhill School), Glasgow, passing out as joint dux.[2] He entered the University of Glasgow to study medicine and graduated MBChB in 1947.[1]

Career

After house posts in Glasgow he began as a trainee pathologist in Sheffield, which involved working as a demonstrator in the laboratory of Dr (later Sir) Hans Krebs, the future Nobel laureate. His contact with Krebs would influence his career choice in chemical pathology. He joined the chemical pathology department at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, at the Hammersmith Hospital in London as a registrar. In 1954 he became the Sir Jack Drummond Memorial Fellow, which enabled him to embark on a career of research in biochemistry, initially under the mentorship of Professor Earl King. He designed and constructed a flame photometer that enabled very accurate measurements of blood calcium and magnesium levels.[3] This led to studies of magnesium deficiency.[4] Shortly after Douglas Harold Copp's discovery of the hormone calcitonin,[5] Macintyre's group demonstrated that the hormone was produced in the parafollicular cells of the thyroid rather than the parathyroid gland as suggested by Copp.[6] In 1967 the Gardner International Award was made jointly to Copp and Macintyre for their work on the origin and existence of calcitonin.[2] Macintyre's laboratory also purified and then sequenced both porcine calcitonin and human calcitonin.[7] His team also demonstrated calcitonin gene-related peptide,[8] which they went on to sequence[9] and then characterise.[10]

A major contribution to education during his time at the Hammersmith Hospital was the organisation of international endocrinology conferences held every two years between 1967 and 1981. These were attended by leading workers in the field of endocrinology from around the world.[2]

He was promoted to the chair of Endocrine Chemistry and Chemical Pathology in 1967 and in 1982 made director of the Wellcome Endocrine Unit based at the Hammersmith Hospital. The research interest expanded into the role of vitamin D in bone metabolism. On retiring from the Hammersmith Hospital he became research director at the William Harvey Research Institute of the University of London. There his research centred on the role of nitric oxide in bone metabolism.[1]

Awards and honours

In 1967 he was awarded (jointly) the Gardner International Award. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996. The Royal Society awarded him the Buchanan Medal in 2006.[1]

Family

He married Mabel (Mabs) Wilson Jamieson, on 14 July 1947 in the Chapel of the University of Glasgow. She died in 2003. They had one daughter, Fiona Bell Macintyre.[2]

Macintyre died in London in 2008.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Martin, T. John; Potts, John; Raisz, Lawrence; Zaidi, Mone (2009). "Iain MacIntyre 1924–2008". Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 24 (1): 1–2. doi:10.1359/jbmr.0901imm. ISSN 1523-4681.
  2. ^ a b c d e Martin, T. John (2012). "Iain MacIntyre. 30 August 1924 — 18 September 2008". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 58: 179–201. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2011.0025. ISSN 0080-4606.
  3. ^ MacIntyre, I. (1 September 1957). "The flame-spectrophotometric determination of calcium in biological fluids and an isotopic analysis of the errors in the Kramer–Tisdall procedure". Biochemical Journal. 67 (1): 164–172. doi:10.1042/bj0670164. ISSN 0306-3283. PMC 1200125. PMID 13471528.
  4. ^ Hanna, S.; Harrison, M.; Macintyre, I.; Fraser, R. (1960). "The syndrome of magnesium deficiency in man". The Lancet. 276 (7143): 172–176. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(60)91323-4.
  5. ^ Copp, D. Harold; Cameron, E. C.; Cheney, Barbara A.; Davidson, A. George F.; Henze, K. G. (1962). "Evidence for Calcitonin—A New Hormone from the Parathyroid That Lowers Blood Calcium". Endocrinology. 70 (5): 638–649. doi:10.1210/endo-70-5-638. ISSN 0013-7227.
  6. ^ Foster, G. V.; Baghdiantz, A.; Kumar, M. A.; Slack, E.; Soliman, H. A.; MacINTYRE, I. (1964). "Thyroid origin of Calcitonin". Nature. 202 (4939): 1303–1305. doi:10.1038/2021303a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  7. ^ Neher, R.; Riniker, B.; Maier, R.; Byfield, P. G. H.; Gudmundsson, T. V.; Macintyre, I. (1968). "Human Calcitonin". Nature. 220 (5171): 984–986. doi:10.1038/220984a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  8. ^ MacIntyre, Iain; Hillyard, Carmel J.; Murphy, Patricia K.; Reynolds, John J.; Gaines Das, Rose E.; Craig, Roger K. (1982). "A second plasma calcium-lowering peptide from the human calcitonin precursor". Nature. 300 (5891): 460–462. doi:10.1038/300460a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  9. ^ Tippins, J.R.; Morris, H.R.; Panico, M.; Etienne, T.; Bevis, P.; Girgis, S.; MacIntyre, I.; Azria, M.; Attinger, M. (1984). "The myotropic and plasma-calcium modulating effects of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)". Neuropeptides. 4 (5): 425–434. doi:10.1016/0143-4179(84)90118-5.
  10. ^ Calcitonins — Physiological and Pharmacological Aspects. Mafosfamide — A Derivative of 4-Hydroxycyclophosphamide. Enzymatic DNA Methylation. Springer Science & Business Media. 7 March 2013. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-3-642-74734-2.
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