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Bengt Robertson

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Bengt A. Robertson
Born(1935-09-14)14 September 1935
Stockholm, Sweden
Died7 December 2008(2008-12-07) (aged 73)
EducationKarolinska Institute
Known forCorusurf
Scientific career
ThesisThe intrapulmonary arterial pattern in normal infancy and in transposition of the great arteries (1968)

Bengt A. Robertson was a Swedish physician and perinatal pathologist. Robertson was primarily known for the development of the synthetic lung surfactant known as Corusurf that brought relief to very small babies suffering from infant respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).[1][2][3] From 1974 to 2000 he was the director of the division for experimental perinatal pathology in the department of women and child Health at the Karolinska Institute.

In 1996 he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine together with Tetsurō Fujiwara for contributions to the understanding of neonatal medicine.[4][5]

Life

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Robertson was born and grew up in Stockholm. As a child he attended the Södra Latins Gymnasium in the Södermalm area of Stockholm, leaving in 1953.[1] Having decided to become a physician, Robertson attended the Karolinska Institute, a medical university and graduated Master of Science in Medicine (Swedish: Läkarexamen) in 1960.[5] Robertson followed the MD with a Doctor of Philosophy degree and was awarded a doctorate in 1968. His thesis was titled: "The intrapulmonary arterial pattern in normal infancy and in transposition of the great arteries".[5]

Robertson was married to Gertie Grossmann, a pediatric surgeon who collaborated with him on surfactant research.[1] Bengt had four children from a previous marriage, consisting one daughter and three sons.[1]

Career

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From 1974 to 2000 he was director of the department of Experimental Perinatal Pathology at the Karolinska Institute.[6] From 1994 to 1997, Robertson was also director of the department of pediatric pathology at Karolinska University Hospital.[1] In 2002, Robertson was promoted to a adjunct professor in Perinatal Pathology at the Karolinska Institute.[1]

Surfactant research

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In 1959, Mary Avery and Jere Mede conducted a trial at the department of physiology at Harvard University in Boston, that showed that respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) was due to surfactant deficiency.[7] Two trials followed that used synthetic Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine surfactant. The surfactant treatment was delivered as a mist via a nebulizer but the trials showed mixed results. Robillard stated it seemed worthy of further investigation.[8] The second study by Jacqueline Chu and her colleagues John Clements, Marshall Klaus and Bill Tooley in Singapore,[9] implied that the underlying cause of RDS was low blood flow instead instead of a deficiency of surfactant.[10]

In 1972, Bengt and Enhörning conducted two trials to discover the reasons for the failure of nebulised synthetic surfactant. They described that when natural surfactant was installed directly into the trachea of premature rabbits, normal lung expansion was achieved, and the animals survived.[11][12] The discovery that the treatment effect was dependent on the surfactant preparation containing natural surfactant proteins and that the surfactant was administered as a bolus dose directly into the trachea, was a fine discovery, i.e. to be effective the treatment needed to be nebulised directly into the lungs of preterm infants,[2] which resulted in the enhanced expansion of the lungs by air.[12]

When Robertson was a visiting scientist of the department of pathology at Toronto University between 1977-1979, he met obstetrician Göran Enhörning who was based at the Toronto Western Hospital. Enhörning, like Robertson was from Stockholm and would become his principal collaborator.[13]


In the autumn of 1984, Bengt became the leader of a group of neonatologist and surfactant researchers, known as "The Collaborative European Multicenter Study Group", who were formed to test Curosurf in the first large international multicentre clinical trial.[2]

Honours

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Robertson received many honours throughout his life. In 1996, he was first recognised when he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize.[5] Two years later in 1998, Robertson along with Tore Curstedt was awarded the Hilda and Alfred Eriksson Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[14] In 2002, he was awarded the Erich Saling Maternité Prize given by the European Association of Perinatal Medicine.[15] This was followed in 2004 with the awarding of the Lars Werkö Prize by the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation along with Tore Curstedt.[16]

Publications

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  • Robertson, Bengt; van Golde, Lambert M. G.; Batenburg, J. J. (1992). Pulmonary surfactant: from molecular biology to clinical practice. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 9780444894755.
  • Robertson, Bengt; Taeusch, H. William (1995). Surfactant therapy for lung disease. New York: Dekker. ISBN 9780824795023.

References

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Citation

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Halliday, Henry L.; Speer, Christian P. (2009). "Bengt Robertson (1935–2008): A Pioneer and Leader in Surfactant Research". Neonatology. 95 (2): VI–VIII. doi:10.1159/000197019.
  2. ^ a b c Bohlin, K.; Blennow, M.; Curstedt, T (2009). "Historien om surfaktant - stor upptäckt för de minsta b" (PDF). Läkartidningen. 106 (52). sv: 3492–3495.
  3. ^ Halliday, H.L.; Speer, C.P. (2002). "Laudatio Bengt Robertson: A Surfactant Pioneer". Neonatology. 82 (4): 272–273. doi:10.1159/000066325.
  4. ^ "Professor Bengt A.Robertson". King Faisal Prize. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d Tait, Mr (2013-09-09). "Professor Bengt Robertson". Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
  6. ^ Speer, C. P. (August 2009). "Prof. Bengt Robertson, Stockholm". Zeitschrift für Geburtshilfe und Neonatologie. 213 (4): 117. doi:10.1055/s-0029-1225636. S2CID 70450050.
  7. ^ Avery, Mary Ellen (1 May 1959). "Surface Properties in Relation to Atelectasis and Hyaline Membrane Disease". Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 97 (5_PART_I): 517. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1959.02070010519001.
  8. ^ Robillard, E; ALARIE, Y; DAGENAIS-PERUSSE, P; BARIL, E; GUILBEAULT, A (11 January 1964). "Microaerosol administration of synthetic beta-gamma-dipalmitoyl-l-alpha-lecithin in the respiratory distress syndome: a preliminary report". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 90 (2): 55–7. PMC 1922135. PMID 14104151.
  9. ^ Chu, J; Clements, JA; Cotton, EK; Klaus, MH; Sweet, AY; Tooley, WH; Bradley, BL; Brandorff, LC (October 1967). "Neonatal pulmonary ischemia. I. Clinical and physiological studies". Pediatrics. 40 (4): Suppl:709-82. PMID 6053115.
  10. ^ Halliday, Henry L (April 2017). "The fascinating story of surfactant". Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 53 (4): 327–332. doi:10.1111/jpc.13500.
  11. ^ Enhörning, Göran; Robertson, Bengt (1 July 1972). "Lung expansion in the premature rabbit fetus after tracheal deposition of surfactant". Pediatrics. 50 (1): 58–66. doi:10.1542/peds.50.1.58. PMID 4483194. S2CID 21760100.
  12. ^ a b Enhörning, G; Grossman, G; Robertson, B (June 1973). "Tracheal deposition of surfactant before the first breath". American Review of Respiratory Disease. 107 (6): 921–927.
  13. ^ Cutz, Ernest; Wencer, David (2020). The Unsung Heroes of Paediatric Medicine: The History of the Department of Pathology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto (1888-2018). Victoria, Canada: FriesenPress. pp. 41, 104. ISBN 978-1-5255-6134-4.
  14. ^ Halliday, Henry L.; Speer, Christian P. (1 September 2010). "Historical Perspectives". NeoReviews. 11 (9): e471–e473. doi:10.1542/neo.11-9-e471.
  15. ^ "Erich Saling Maternity Prize". EAPM Association - About Us. Milan, Italy. p. en. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  16. ^ Speer, Christian P.; Halliday, Henry L. (2014). "Tore Curstedt - The Basic Science Creator of Porcine Surfactant". Neonatology. 106 (3): 242–244. doi:10.1159/000365128. PMID 25300948.

Bibliography

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  • Robertson, Bengt; Taeusch, H. William, eds. (19 July 1995). Surfactant therapy for lung disease. Lung biology in health and disease. Vol. 84. New York: Dekker. ISBN 978-0824795023.
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