Page 12 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and Immunochemistry D.W. VERWOERD
TIntroduction
he importance of biochemistry as a scientific discipline was recognized at an early stage by the founder of Onderstepoort, Arnold Theiler. During the years immediately following the establishment
of the Institute in 1908 the main problem facing its small band of researchers, at least from the farmers’ point of view, was elucidating the cause of lamsiekte. Theiler always had an interest in the relationship between animal diseases and plants and for some time supported the theory that the disease was caused by grazing on toxic plants. Feeding experiments did not support this view, however, and by 1912 Theiler realized that he needed a biochemist to assist him in further investigations. When he left for Europe on a year’s study leave in 1912 Theiler had the mandate to recruit additional staff and also took some pathological speci- mens along which he submitted to the pathologist Prof. E. Hedinger of Basle University in Switzerland.
At the time vitamins had recently been discovered and vitamin deficiencies identified as the cause of human diseases such as scurvy and beri-beri. Hedinger
suggested that lamsiekte might result from
102 a similar deficiency. When Theiler spent the last months of his leave in 1913 in London he therefore engaged H.H. (Harry) Green as ‘physiological chemist’ specifically to follow up this new angle (see also Part 1). It is of interest that two other stalwarts were recruited at the same time: E.M. Robinson and Gilles de Kock as ‘veterinary bacteriologists’.
Focus on mineral deficiencies (1914-1930)
Green arrived in Cape Town in January
1914 and immediately proceeded to the
Armoedsvlakte Research Station at Vryburg
to start chemical investigations based on the ‘deficiency’ theory, a subject that would occupy him for the rest of his career. Being the only chemist on the institute’s staff he was also involved in research on chemical control of external parasites, inter alia the use of sulphur in sheep dips and the development of an arsenical dip tester. These two activities, nutritional deficiencies, and chemical control of ectopara-
The ‘Physical Chemical’ laboratory in the Old Main Building, 1908
sites, would remain the two focus points of biochemical research at Onderstepoort for many years. In 1917 the professional staff at Onderstepoort had increased to nine, with Green still the only ‘biochemist’, mainly engaged in chemical analyses of pastures in areas where lamsiekte was prevalent. By 1919, after the end of World War I and the devastating influenza epidemic, staff numbers had fallen to five, including Green who remained Theiler’s ‘cardinal collaborator’ and who played a major part in the discovery of the role played by phosphate deficiency in the aetiology of lamsiekte. He was described by contemporaries as exceptionally meticu-
lous, conscientious and reliable.
In 1920 Green was appointed as the
first Professor in Biochemistry in the newly established Veterinary Faculty. Along with the other five appointees he was sent
abroad to study the latest advances in his discipline. On his return from the USA a year later he was ‘on the verge of a nervous breakdown’, attributed by his colleagues to his intense character and the stress caused by working day and night during his study leave. He soon recovered, however, and continued his work on mineral deficiencies in the newly built Biochemistry wing of the main building. His work
“Green arrived in Cape Town in January 1914 and immediately proceeded to the Armoedsvlakte Research Station at Vryburg to start chemical investigations based on the ‘deficiency’ theory, a subject that would occupy him for the rest of his career.”
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years